SuperHuman
by Xtremesilly1563
Summary: In the near(ish) future, where the scorching never happened, humans and dragons live together. But there is a program released to use both species to create something called a SuperHuman. Meanwhile, a member of a tribe lost to the world is planning.
1. Welcome to the SuperHuman program

Welcome to the SuperHuman program.

For decades, humans and dragons have been feuding. This started when war started between the two. The dragons tried to rise up against the humans and become the dominant species of the Earth. This was named "The Scorching War," due to the name the dragons gave it, "The Scorching." Today, in the year 2065, the two can come together in the SuperHuman program. It's simple, we take humans who volunteer into the program, and break into their DNA, giving them small samples of dragon DNA in them. Doing this creates a superior being to all life on Earth. Dragon muscles, their predatory eyes, which are just as receptive as humans', and their senses and reflexes they gained by living in the air are great components to mix with the brain and general body of a human.

Don't worry, this process is completely risk-free and non-dangerous. We only accept human volunteers who are on the brink of death. Sending them through this process gives them a new life, and doesn't waste any human lives because the volunteers, sadly, were going to die regardless.

You have just gone under this change. Welcome to the world, Oliver Brown. Your life will lead nothing but greatness and achievement.

Oliver sputtered to life. His eyes shot open, and feeling came to all of his limbs throughout his body. At first, Oliver didn't feel. He didn't think. He just was. He was still alive, but not conscious, like a tree or a plant.

But then, it all rushed through him. Thoughts and feelings and sensations rushed through his body. _Am I alone?_

Oliver looked around the room. It was a small, well-lit room with black floor, wall and ceiling panels. In the corner of the ceiling, there was a small white speaker. He turned around completely, where he found a small box on the wall containing another person.

 _A mirror._ The thought popped into his head, as well as all the other thoughts. Suddenly, he knew what a mirror was and how it worked. He could see himself, and identify all the objects on himself.

 _A suit. A nice one. Completely black, but with a blue finish. Black dress pants as well, as well as black shoes. Not dress shoes, but not sneakers._ Oliver took a closer look at his shoes in person, rather than admire them in the mirror. _They're sleek and fancy, but they don't handicap my physical abilities with them. Normal dress shoes would._ Oliver looked back at the mirror. _All of my clothes are like this. Fancy, but not limiting what I can do at all. Quite impressive._ Oliver looked at his face. Caucasian skin, and blackish-brownish hair, which was short and out of the way of his face.

"Hello, Oliver." Said a kind sounding robotic woman's voice, which was coming out of the speaker on the ceiling. "You are on the SuperHuman force of Boston Massachusetts. That is, coincidentally, the original, founding force! Right now, you're in the SuperHuman Tower, the base of operations and living quarters of all SuperHumans in the city. This tower is also home to Iris Mikaela, the OverLooker to the entire SuperHuman program."

 _How long will I be here?_

"We will now conduct some beginning tests to make sure you are functional." The voice said. "Get ready!"

Oliver turned around slowly, waiting for something to happen. Then, something did happen. The floor tiles underneath Oliver abruptly retracted, opening up a large chasm beneath Oliver's feet.

Oliver started falling. He did not panic, he barely even reacted to the sudden change motion. He closed his eyes, and a mental picture of himself unfolded. He was falling down a square hole into what was probably water. Around his body, he pictures wings, and a tail, and claws. Oliver extended these things outward. _Just like flying._ His hands and feet reached the walls of the hole, and he caught himself midfall. He looked down into the nothingness below. He pushed off the black tiles wall with his hands, and pushed up with his feet, launching him upwards. He caught himself against the walls again and repeated this process a few more times until he reached the top. When he pulled himself out of the whole completely, the tiles extended back into place, covering the hole.

"Good work, Oliver. Test 1: completed."

Just as suddenly as the floor panels retracted, the panels on the wall to Oliver's left opened up, revealing foam dummies in different positions along a short hallway. The hallway was lined entirely with the same black tiles and was completely empty except for the foam dummies and a small table in the very front. On the table were two pistols, loaded and ready for use.

"Take out the dummies as quickly and efficiently as possible." The voice commanded.

Oliver grabbed the pistols, and looked forward, analyzing the dummies. _One on the left, 7 feet farther one on the right, 7 feet farther one on the left, 3 feet farther one on the right, 5 feet farther one on the left and right._ Oliver ran forward, shooting the first dummy to his right. On his way by, Oliver shot the first one to his left. He slid on the ground, shooting the second one to the left, and kicked the feet out from under the second one to his right. The dummy fell over, landing on Oliver's gun, which he shot. He got back up from the ground, turned facing forward, spread his arms to his sides, and shot the last two at the same time. Oliver lowered his arms. He turned around to examine his work. Every shot landed on the dummies' foam heads.

"Good work, Oliver." The voice praised. "You are an exceptional specimen."

Oliver turned back around, where a door was opening, and a light was shining through.

"Keep these moves in mind, but never forget to improvise." The voice said, before shutting off. Oliver stepped through the door, ready to face the world.


	2. Chapter 1- Action

I really hope you guys like this story because I'm putting a lot of my precious time into this. It takes a lot more than just writing to make a story. BUT WHATEVER enjoy.

A man woke up in a dark room. He was strapped up into a chair, blindfolded. He couldn't see. He could only hear. And he heard the slithery voice of a dragon.

"Good morning, Adam." The dragon said. "We are about to spin a wheel if you will."

"Who are you?!" Adam cried. "Why did you take me here?!"

The dragon quietly laughed. "Why do people always ask that? They shouldn't expect me to tell them either of those things." He stopped talking as if he was thinking. "But that's why I'm so unexpected. You can call me The Night, and you are here because of your work."

"My work?" Adam asked. "You mean taking care of the homeless?"

"Yes."

"And am I allowed to ask why that is the reason you've tied me down and blindfolded me?

"Yes. Go ahead and ask." The dragon replied, then peeled back in laughter. Slowing down his hysterics, he started to talk again. "Alright, let's just cut to the chase. I am going to ask you 'left or right', and you will choose one or the other. I have taken 18 homeless humans from your shelter, and your wife and daughter. They are separated into pairs, and each person is set in one direction. I will not tell you which two people are up. One will die, and one will live."

Adam soaked this information up. Finally, he sputtered out "Why?"

Again, The Night laughed. "This time, that's a question I will not answer. Now, Adam, I have a question for you."

Sweat beaded down Adam's forehead. 10 people he knew were going to die tonight, and that might include his wife and daughter.

"My question is" The Night continued. "left or right?"

"right," Adam whispered.

10 minutes later, after an excruciatingly slow process, they were done. The blindfold lifted off of Adam's face, and he sprung from the chair, looking for The Night. There was nobody in the room. It was small and concrete, and he was alone. Suddenly, the wall in front of him opened, revealing 10 bodies in a row in front of him. Adam couldn't look. He slowly moved his hands away from his face, turning towards the bodies. He saw some of his best friend's corpses in front of him and sighed with relief. His wife and daughter were safe. But then he noticed something. He was wrong about something. There weren't 10 bodies in front of him, there were 8. Behind him, the wall opened up, slower than the other one had, revealing two more corpses on that side.

"Look what you've done." Said the voice of The Night. "You killed both of the people who you love the most. Who could do such a thing?"

Through his tears, Adam screamed up at the ceiling. "I DIDN'T KILL THEM! YOU DID!"

"I just follow your orders of which to kill. You're the one who decided their horrible fate."

Adam sobbed.

"It was your choice, Adam. Did you choose wrong? Or did you deep down _want_ to kill them?

Adam screamed up at the ceiling again.

"Any way you slice it, you killed them, Adam. I can't believe you would do such a horrible thing."

-/-

For the first time in his life, Oliver Brown walked into the SuperHuman Agency Base of Boston. Oliver stepped out of the elevator and looked around. It was a well-lit, large room with large desks everywhere. Everyone was wearing the same SuperHuman Outfit, a black suit, that was specifically tailored not to limit the flow of movement. Oliver was lost in thought, looking around the large room, when the sound of the same, unnaturally friendly woman's voice jolted him back to life. "Welcome, Oliver Brown. You are stationed to the back-left corner. Please meet with your chief. He is new to being the chief, so he may be unprepared. For this. He hasn't welcomed a new member to the SuperHuman agency yet. Now, proceed.

 _Thanks… I couldn't have figured that out myself._ Suddenly, a small crevice opened in the ground, folding back, and a small metal shelf extended from the ground. "Please, grab a binder from the shelf. They are required. They have all the necessary equipment for you, but you can add more if you need. Oliver grabbed a binder off of the shelf. It was pitch black, but up near the top, in white lettering, lined with blue, it said 'SuperHuman Agency Official Binder of Desk Equipment." Oliver started walking into the large room, and at the back. There was a small glass wall, with a sliding door. Inside was an office. On the glass, in the same lettering, but this time glowing as if each letter was an individual screen "Agency Chief's Office."

Oliver quickly walked over there looking at the other SuperHumans. They either looked extremely bored or completely focused on their work, not a thought in their head. _Like me, when I came into existence._ Oliver slid open the door and stepped into the chief's office.

The Chief was wearing the same suit as all the others, but with a small police-badge shape on the side of it, which was white and blue, in a swirl made of straight lines. Then the electricity happened. His mind raced. _What the hell is a police badge? How do I know that word?_ A golden, thin object in the same shape as the emblem on the chief's shirt flickered through his mind, then a picture of DNA, then a hospital bed. Then, just as suddenly as the electricity came and rushed through his mind, the thoughts disappeared. _What was I thinking about? Something… why do I feel this… buzz through my mind?_

"Is everything alright?" asked the Chief. "You must be anxious… don't fret; I don't bite." Oliver looked at the chief, then his desk. On it, there was a small metal piece stuck in a slot partially to keep it in place. Engraved in it, in dark, straight letters, said CHIEF MASON OWEN. "I-I heard you are new here." Oliver managed out, still thinking about that fragment of time he couldn't remember. _I'm sure it's fine, just getting used to a new environment. It is probably just what Mason said, anxiety._

"That is correct," Mason said. "This is only my second week as chief, and I'm not quite used to it yet. I always liked commending myself, which is why I rose up the ranks so quickly, but I never had a knack for commanding others." He smiled a smile that seemed to appear often. He had a face for it. "But I guess we're all learning how to do new things."

"Yes, I suppose we are. So, what kind of work do we do here, anyway?" Oliver asked.

"Well, as you can see, there aren't many of us. Not many people volunteer to go through the change. So, we get called in for very special cases, along-side police." Mason explained. "In fact, for the next one, both of us are going, so that I can see you in action. See how you work, and function in a hostile environment, that wants to fight back against you. I will be right behind you, ready to catch you when you fall." Oliver liked Mason. He seemed very trustworthy. Oliver would be safe with Mason until he'd be safe by himself. "Also," Mason continued. "Since our brains are more advanced, we do a lot of desk work, as you can see." He pointed out his big window. "detective stuff, mystery solving. You know."

"I have an unrelated question: what's that shape on your-" Oliver started, but got interrupted by a blaring siren.

"Oop." Said Mason. "That's us."

"wait- what?" asked Oliver in a blur, everyone was getting up from their desks and running to the door.

"There's some kind of emergency. It's your time to shine, Oliver." Mason answered. "But I have a very important question for you, first."

"What's that?" Oliver said hastily and looked over at Mason. His eyes were dead cold. He was almost indistinguishable from his normal smiling self. His eyes cut right through Oliver. During that moment, he felt himself in a bed, in a blanket, hearing voices.

"Are you ready to take lives?" Mason asked.

The car ride over to the place was fast, avoiding all the traffic, running right past these lights above the roads that changed color, and made the other cars stop. After a long, silent car ride, they pulled up to a building with lots of police officers. Oliver stepped out, the wind whipping at his face. For the first time yet, Oliver looked at the sky. It was a beautiful blue color, with white airy, puffy things floating in it. He looked over at mean wearing black, but they weren't the same suits that the SuperHumans wore. _They must be the police._ Oliver took a good look at one and saw a glimmer on one of their chests. "What's that?" he asked the man.

"Ugh. You must be new. This is called a hostage situation." Explained the Police officer. "Basically, what it means is that there are some people or dragons in there that some other people or dragons are threatening to kill. They're important people, so we care about them. Get it? Those guys there, who sometimes shoot at us are bad guys. We might need to kill them."

"No," said Oliver. "I meant the thing on your chest."

The man gave Oliver a confused look. "This?" he asked. "This is called a police badge. It signifies me as a police officer, and not just a guy impersonating one."

"Alright." Said Mason, approaching Oliver, before he could thank the man. "Now's your chance. They're gonna reload soon, and in that time, do your… thing."

Oliver looked forward, at 4 men, hiding behind cars from gunfire. Oliver looked at the terrorists. One was hiding behind one car, and the other three were behind a car further back. _Those cars have glass on the sides, on each door. I wonder why our car doesn't have that._ Oliver took out his two pistols and charged the men while they took black boxes out of their large guns. His mental wings spread, and he stretched his claws. He flicked his forked tongue, and his narrow eyes focused. He stepped up onto the hood of the front car, surprising the man, and Oliver promptly shot him in the head. He spun, and landed on his feet, standing up. He then vaulted with one hand over the next car in front of him, spread his arms out to either end, pistols in hand, and shot the remaining men in perfect unison.

Oliver felt a tremendous weight crash down on him when he heard their bodies hit the floor. He clenched his eyes shut, and thought of the lives they must have had. _They had childhoods. Where did it all go so wrong?_ _I thought children are innocent… so how could they become like this?_

"It hurts, doesn't it?" asked Mason as he approached Oliver. "But you did well. You saved lives by taking some. You exchanged 4 lives for who knows how many. It's hard, I know… from experience Oliver. But there's no time for remorse, now. There are hostages we need to save."

The police officers started moving forward, guns drawn. "We can go together this time. I didn't think you're first mission would be a hostage one. You have to be careful as not to let the hostages get killed." Mason explained.

"But wouldn't our instincts not let us miss and hit the hostages?" Oliver asked absent-mindedly, looking back at the corpses of the people he killed.

"No, not us," Mason replied. "They would kill the hostages when threatened."

"Then what's the point of keeping them hosta-"

"We don't have time for that now! Let's go!"

Without question, Oliver started sprinting up into the building that the people and dragons were taken hostage.

"Wait!" cried a police officer. "Don't you need a plan of attack?!"

Mason smiled back at him. "We'll figure it out."

"And if you don't?" the Officer asked. Mason looked back at him, shrugged, and went after Oliver.

When Mason caught up, Oliver was looking into a window. Inside the room of the building, there were 4 men stationed at the door.

"Do you think we can sneak behind them?" Oliver asked Mason.

"Maybe, but it's risky. Do you think you can do it?"

"I think."

"I gotta say, I never would have thought of that. Maybe the dragon DNA in you is that one that can camouflage."

"You mean RainWing?"

Mason gave Oliver a look. "Sure, if that's what they're called." Mason turned back went to the side of a building and took out a small ball. _Grenade._ Oliver thought.

"I thought you said we'll sneak past them!" Oliver whisper-shouted at Mason.

"We are. There's no way we can get through that window without a sound cover." Mason pressed a button on it, and small numbers appeared on the top of the grenade, counting down. Mason rolled it towards the door and sprinted over to the window. When there was a loud bang, the two SuperHumans entered the building undetected.

"Do we know what room and floor the hostages are in?" Oliver whispered to Mason, who had taken the lead.

"Nope," Mason replied.

One by one, the two checked rooms, floors, didn't find anything. Eventually, they made it to the top floor, where they decided the criminals must be located. Mason and Oliver checked each room until they reached the last one.

"They must be in here," Oliver said. "It would make no sense if they weren't."

"Yeah." Mason agreed. "Ok, on three."

Oliver gulped.

"1…"

Oliver got ready, both guns in hand, both loaded.

"2…"

The door suddenly burst open. Mason lurched backward, coughing. Oliver looked forward, aiming his guns, but there was nobody there. There were the hostages, and nobody else.

"It's all clear!" Oliver cried back to Mason. "The terrorists must have evacuated or something. It's just the hostages."

Mason walked into the room, checking every corner. He knelt down to the hostages and started scanning them "Ah, Oliver. See, I was told there were 5 hostages, 4 human and one dragon. There are 8 here, 3 more humans. The terrorists are here, mixed in with the hostages. Most likely rigged to explode."

"So… what should we do? Couldn't they explode any second?!"

"Not yet. If they wanted to kill them, they would have done that 20 minutes ago. They're waiting until we get them to safety. It was a good trick, but sadly, it won't work."

Mason took out a small grey rectangle with some wires on it. "This, Oliver, is called an Electromagnetic Pulse, or just EMP if you don't wanna be fancy." He clicked a button, and all the lights went out.

"What'd you do?!" Oliver asked, more panicked.

"I malfunctioned all electronics in the area," Mason explained. "Any bombs they had won't work now."

Mason casually started helping hostages up and went to the window, shooting a green flare out, a signal for all clear.

"Is that a good idea? I mean 3 of these hostages are still terrorists!" Oliver shifted his weight. Something bad was going to happen.

"Yeah, what're they gonna do? They'll be found when nobody recognizes them down there." Mason explained. "In the meantime, help these guys out into the hall and untie them."

Oliver did as he instructed. Mason very expertly untied the knots in what seemed like 2 seconds and brought them out of the room with ease. Oliver, however, had a much harder time and sometimes tightened the knots more than untied them. Eventually, however, the deed was done, and now there were only 2 left. One of them was the dragon. Oliver noticed it was a very light green color, so much so that it seemed white. The dragon was hyperventilating. Oliver wasn't one to be able to console the dragon, but he should try.

"Hey, you're safe now. They can't do anything to you."

The dragon didn't respond.

"We deactivated the bombs, it's okay. "

The dragon kept looking straight ahead, not even glancing at Oliver still breathing heavily. Oliver decided to just untie the dragon and let it calm down on its own. Eventually, while unbinding its forearms, the dragon looked up at Oliver. Its expression was new to Oliver. Completely unique. It was fear.

"You need to leave. Run! There's nothing you can do now. You didn't deactivate anything. Run! Save the others! They're the ones with the dyed hair-"

Suddenly the human next to the dragon started yelling.

"Salvum me animi vis!" He cried, and exploded. It wasn't an explosion from a backpack or within the ropes, however. It seemingly was from within the man himself.

Oliver was thrown back against the wall. The dragon was hit with the full force of the blast.

"MASON!" Oliver yelled. "IT'S THE ONES WITH THE DYED HAIR! THEY STILL EXPLODE!"

Mason turned to look at Oliver, and then back at the two remaining humans. Sure enough, 2 had dyed hair. The two got up and bolted to get into the very center of the hostages, to kill them and Mason, but they were no match. Mason, quick as lighting, shot the two in the head. They landed on the floor dead. Mason panted. The other hostages were screaming.

"oooookay," Mason said, on his toes. "That was a bit too close. Anyone else have any Latin to say and explode, or are we good?" He turned and entered the room Oliver was in. Mason saw what was left of the dragon.

Oliver stared at Mason. "Your EMP didn't work." He said coldly.

"It did," Mason said. "The lights turned out. Whatever bomb they had someone was immune to it."

Oliver was still in the exact same place as he was when he saw the dragon die. He was completely dazed.

"Tough first day. But hey, you were born into this world this way. You'll see more. You'll have to power through it. Not get caught up in it." Masons said.

Oliver stared up at Mason.

"You saved human lives today, Oliver. They would have _all_ died had it not been for us." Mason continued. "Think of it that way."

Oliver got up, not looking back at the remnants of the human and dragon. He followed Mason to the door, but Mason stopped in his way. "And Oliver? At least it was just a dragon, not a human."

A snake slithered down Oliver's spine.

-/-

"Welcome to the Healing Center, Oliver."

Oliver woke up in a bed in a room he didn't recognize. He jumped out of his bed and raced towards the door. "WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Oliver asked. He took a look around. The woman who had welcomed him sat a little surprised, as did a young man sitting in a chair in the back of the room

"Um." The woman said. "It means we're here to help you recover from your wounds."

Oliver stood there for a moment, thoughtless.

"No… I…" He started, then whipped around to face the woman. "How did I get here?!"

"Well." The woman said. You were pretty busted after the mission you were on. You fainted, and we brought you here, to help you recover."

The woman talked slowly, making absolutely sure that Oliver could understand her.

"I don't believe we've met." The woman said. "I'm . This is Nurse Stevens." She gestured to the man in the chair in the back.

Oliver slowly sat back down. "Um… hi." He said. "Sorry… about that."

"No, no. You're fine. It must have been tragic. I heard what you experienced." The doctor looked concerned for Oliver, but not enough to make Oliver think anything was wrong.

Oliver looked at the large curtain in between him and the rest of the room, snapping back to reality. Suddenly, he felt lightheaded again and fell back onto the cot. Oliver started coughing.

"Are you okay?" The nurse asked. "Do you need something? Water?"

"Yeah," Oliver replied. "Sure, water."

Nurse Stevens ran out behind a large curtain blocking Oliver from the rest of the room. Oliver reached out from his bed and touched it. "What's this here for?" he asked.

"That's just there to give you some privacy. If you want me to pull it back, I can do that." Dr. Hougtons told Oliver.

"Yeah, do that," Oliver said. Oliver wasn't entirely sure why he wanted that, maybe it was to get to know the room he'll have to go to if he gets hurt better. Maybe he just was uncomfortable with only him and the doctor. The doctor got up and brought back the curtain.

"Well, I'll have to be going now. Nice meeting you, Oliver. Nurse Stevens will take care of you now.

As Dr. Houghtons left the room, Oliver looked over to his left, where the other patients where.

He could only see one before a curtain blocked his view again, for another patient. It was a female SuperHuman, with long brown hair.

"Hey." She said. "You wanna talk or do you want me to leave you alone?"

"Nah," Oliver said, breathing heavily in his bed. "You can talk it's fine."

"well then." She said. "What happened to you?"

"caught in the outskirts of a small explosion," Oliver said, not going into the details. The image of the destroyed dragon flashed through his mind, while Mason's cold words rung like a bell.

"What about you?" Oliver asked, making sure to leave the subject of the bombing as quickly as possible.

"Haha. Compared to your story, mine's pathetic." She said. "I got some kind of serious food poisoning."

They both chuckled.

"What was it?" Oliver asked.

"Ummm. I think some kind of Korean salad." The woman replied.

"What's your name?" Oliver asked her.

"I'm Amelia. And you're Oliver."

Oliver looked over at her, and she smiled back.

"I saw you when you came in for the first time this morning." She explained.

Oliver looked up at the ceiling. _A friend. That's a start, at least._

"So, Oliver, how do you like being a SuperHuman so far?" Amelia asked, then chuckled. "I'm guessing not so great."

"It's very… interesting?" Oliver tried. "Surely not all the days will be like this." He concluded.

"Good point," Amelia said. "That's a pretty optimistic view, Oliver."

"I guess so," Oliver replied.


	3. Chapter 2- Dragon Life

**7 hours earlier**

53 years ago, dragons appeared. Nobody is really sure why or how. When they came into existence, they attempted to become the dominant species of the world. They hunted humans for food, and humans tried seeking dragons out and killing them. It was the stuff of old Viking legends. However, in a very unlikely turn of events, the dragons fell and lost the war. They failed, and ever since then, dragons have suffered the consequences.

Wolf the IceWing was currently in the extremely unfavorable situation of escaping a building with soldiers inside of it while holding 7 loaves of bread. How in the world could he possibly get out of such an incredibly ridiculous situation? Very very sneakily, and luckily. After all, it's not like it's incredibly hard to spot a practically glowing white dragon the size of 2 men inside your well-lit claustrophobic empty halls. Not very hard at all. Not to mention the sevenloaves of bread in his arms.

Wolf was part of a small Dragon Rights group called Basilisk, which existed in an abandoned gigantic fallout shelter from The Scorching. It was very short on money, and it despised the government and its views on dragons. In fact, the government of the U.S. even installed this new program to advance humans even further ahead of dragons. It was called the SuperHuman program. They said it was merging the dragons' superior physical abilities, and the humans' superior mental ones, but there are two major problems with this. One is that it was really probably made to keep the dragons in check from trying to initiate The Scorching again, and it's basically to say that while dragons may be physically superior, humans are mentally. Which Wolf knew was completely wrong.

So now here's Wolf, trying to escape a fully attended military base with seven loaves of bread to bring back to his not-people for them to eat. While he was closer to the front door of the building than the roof, he was leaving by flying, because it's a whole lot harder to be seen flying away into the night then just waltzing through the front door with several fully trained and armed guards next to it. So roof it was for Wolf.

Wolf peeked over the large wooden crate that he was currently barely huddled behind. He saw the regular guards at the door, and then some other entering in rows. He decided now was his best chance to climb the stairs, since the soldiers might be coming over there soon and will probably see him just sitting there behind the crate. Wolf quietly stepped up the stairs, making sure none of his scales caught and reflected the light shining down from the skylight above. When he made it to the top, Wolf looked around for a way to get to the roof; another staircase, maybe an open skylight… and there it was. On the other side of a long, empty hallway, there was an elevator. Wolf quickly left the top of the stairs and started race-walking down to the elevator, when a large bang erupted from directly below him. _A gunshot._ Wolf whipped around to the staircase, hoping that the bullet wasn't meant for him, but saw nobody. However, he did hear footsteps racing up the stairs.

"We're under attack! Get to the armory!" somebody shouted.

Running out of options as to where to go from here, Wolf flew directly up to the high ceiling, hoping nobody would think to look _up_ in this urgent situation. Luckily for Wolf, nobody did, and Wolf saw dozens of soldiers running up the stairs, shielding themselves. _Who is even attacking? No small gang or group of criminals would be crazy enough to infiltrate a military base… what do they expect to happen? For them to win? There has to be something else happening here…_

Wolf then saw the attackers. They were completely covered in a dark red body-suit with clothes over it. The clothes on it where regular clothes, like how anyone would dress. But the really odd thing about them was that they weren't armed. The shots were by only one man, who had dropped his gun. The men kept moving forward, slowly, up the stairs. Right underneath Wolf. Then, as if someone jabbed them with a stick, they started moving forward again. Soldiers rain into the hall, getting into a defensive formation and pointing their guns at the incoming attackers.

"Stay back! We'll shoot!" One shouted.

"They're unarmed, sir. How are they even going to attack?"

 _Then who fired the gunshot?_ Wolf looked down at the soldiers beneath him. _They're probably wondering the same thing._

The one in the back, presumably in the lead, said "hold your fire….

Hold…"

The people got closer and closer, moving slightly faster every moment.

"ENOUGH!" one attacker shouted, and sprinted the other way, but couldn't even make it down the stairs. He exploded, but not seemingly from a source, like there was a bomb strapped to his back or chest. He _was_ the bomb. The soldiers were crouched down, slightly dazed. That's when the people made their move. Sobbing, the people ran forward and exploded.

All the glass shattered in the entire area of the building, and Wolf almost fell from his perch. He used the moment to zip to the elevator and looked down at the bodies of the soldiers. Completely destroyed. _What kind of terrorist attack is this? And where else are they going to attack?_ Wolf asked himself.

It didn't matter now; Wolf had to escape as quickly as possible. There was nobody in the hallway at the moment, so Wolf could call down an elevator without much trouble. As he got into the large glass elevator, Wolf started to absent-mindedly stare at the corner of the hall, near the stairs, as if waiting for something. Sure enough, something came. A dragon. A black dragon. A dragon unlike any he'd ever seen. All of his scales were a deep black, but unlike a RainWing's, they seemed like they're always black, like they were unchanging. He also didn't have the ruff behind his ears, and his tail and wings didn't look right. This dragon was not a RainWing. It looked almost like a SandWing or an IceWing, but completely black. As Wolf kept looking at this dragon, he realized it wasn't entirely black after all. He had glimmering silver scales on his wings, and right next to his eyes. Wolf reached the top floor, and opened up a skylight and jumped out. Wolf looked through one of the windows, at the destruction left behind, and he noticed the black dragon looking directly at Wolf. Wolf shuddered, then turned back. He flew up to another rooftop, holding the bread tightly in their bags.

Wolf stopped on one rooftop to look down at the city. It was raining. The lights from the cars and building illuminated the night. The city looked like a large Christmas tree. Wolf sat down, placing down the bread bags, and admired the city. Wolf looked around, and then turned and looked at the building rooftop next to his. The black dragon was on it, and the very edge, perched there, overlooking the city the same way he was. The silver scales shone in the rain, glimmering.

It was then, noticing these scales, that Wolf noticed the dragon had been looking _right at him_. Wolf backed up in surprise, but the dragon did not chase him. Instead, the dragon jumped down from the building and swooped away into the night. Wolf exhaled. He looked back at the city. _I wonder what that dragon's deal is. I've never seen one like him._

"Hello, Wolf."

Wolf stood up with a jolt and turned around to see the black dragon.

"Ahh- um, hey! Who are you?!"

"Calm down, Wolf. I'm not going to hurt you."

"How- how do you know my name?!"

"I know lots of things about you. I know you work for Basilisk. I know you stole that bread. I know you think the city at night like this looks like a large Christmas tree."

The dragon had a look in his eye, a look Wolf had never seen before. His talons fidgeted as if they were buzzing like a bee's wings.

"Do- do you know who killed them?" Wolf stuttered out. "Who killed the soldiers?"

"ah, yes. Yes." The dragon thought for a moment, turned away from Wolf, then he whipped around again. "The man who organized this crime is named Johnathan Craney." He said. "And he will strike again."

"How do you know all this stuff?" Wolf asked in awe.

"Not all things should be answered directly. Have a good night, sir." The dragon said, and flew away, disappearing into the night.

Looking after him, Wolf stared up at the stars. Wolf knew he had just met someone who was beyond him.

-/-

Wolf arrived back at his "home." It was only accessible by opening a hatch disguised as a slab of concrete built into a part of an alley. Wolf was excited to show off his findings to his friends Lilypad and Tide. There were all species of dragons at Basilisk. RainWings, MudWings, IceWings, SeaWings, and SandWings. Wolf slowly trudged through them, sitting, looking bored, tired, or sad. Basilisk was not much to behold. Most dragons would consider them a poor excuse for a foundation, that they were poor, and had to steal food and boil the bacteria out of rainwater with their fire. That wasn't true. Basilisk wasn't _that_ poor. Wolf wondered how humans could get by without things like fire and wings. Most people would tell you it's because of their superior intellect. Wolf wasn't so sure.

Wolf arrived by Sedge, the MudWing in charge of Basilisk. He was very big, the biggest of his group of sibs, and he always bragged about how he was the one who helped all of his siblings out of their eggs. He had lots of scars, but he was still the toughest person and best fighter Wolf knew. Inside his room, Sedge was being bandaged by a RainWing healer named Amazon.

"How did you do on the train food heist?" Wolf asked, stepping into the room. Sedge had organized a robbery from a worker's train that stopped nearby.

The large MudWing laughed. "right now I have 17 broken bones."

"what about the food?" Wolf asked hopefully. "Did you get any?"

The MudWing stared at Wolf. "You really don't pay attention to the news, do you?" He asked, his voice solemn.

"No… what happened?" Wolf asked slowly, his heart sinking.

"It was a complete failure. 7 of us died."

Wolf didn't know what to think. _Who could've died?_ Wolf scanned the large room in the center of the underground to find Tide and Lilypad. He couldn't see them. He dashed into their room. Nobody was in it. Wolf whirled around to look for them, but the hulking shape of Sedge was in his way.

Wolf looked up at Sedge. His face was grim. He looked down at Wolf with pity.

"no," Wolf whispered. "No."

"I'm…" Sedge started, then stopped. He looked away. "I'm sorry, kid." He walked away slowly, limping slightly on one of his hind legs.

Wolf's head spun. He backed away and hit the wall of Tide and Lilypad's room. He slowly sank down, until he was sitting on the floor. Wolf had experienced too much today. The explosion. The mysterious dragon. This. He wasn't even able to show Sedge the bread, which now lay next to him on the floor. He wasn't able to talk about what he had seen. He wasn't able to ask about a dragon that is completely black. Wolf stared at Tide's pillow. He could see the SeaWing laying there in his mind, reading a book to him about how dragons somehow found a way to split continents apart. Lilypad on the top bunk, skeptical, but wonderous.

-/

"It's true! They were going to rip North America off of South America and reshape it to be a dragon." Tide had said. "Nobody knows how, but they actually started it. The Panama Canal was destroyed! Look!" He showed Lilypad a picture of what was once the Panama Canal.

"Oh yeah?" Lilypad challenged. "How did they do it then, mastermind? Did they one-by-one move the stones?"

"I don't know," Tide said. "But I would have loved to see whatever power they had."

"If they had so much power," Wolf said, looking up at Tide. "Why didn't they just eliminate all the humans right then and there?"

Tide thought about that one.

"That's a good point," Lilypad said, pointing down at Tide. "Why didn't they turn one dragon into some kind of death bringer?"

"Like a god?" Wolf said.

Tide and Lilypad looked at him.

"I… I don't know. But the history books don't lie."

Wolf and Tide both got onto the top bunk. All three of them huddled around the book, looking at pictures of dragons and war zones and the horror that had happened in The War of The Scorching. All three of them. Sitting on that top bunk, huddled together, thinking of the past and dreaming of the future.

That top bunk was now empty. The mattress was sunk in where Lilypad used to sleep, and her pillow was flattened. Tide's bed was equally indented. But now the room was empty. Two orphaned dragonets, who lived on the streets, who were willing to fight for a better living. They had died. They had been killed. For trying to get by. Wolf clenched his talons and stood up strong in the room. His eyes were blazing, which was odd for an IceWing. They were normally cool, calm and collected. Wolf was not a regular IceWing. He had been raised among other tribes. The IceWings were by far the richest tribe, of all the dragons living in the world.

"This is not fair," Wolf said to himself. "We were born to this world. We deserve to live in it. No matter how much the humans want to dismiss us, to punish us for events that happened 53 years ago. I will find peace in this world." Wolf turned to see Sedge in the doorway. He had a crutch and was leaning against the doorframe.

"What's your plan?" Sedge asked Wolf.

"I don't know yet," Wolf said. "But I'm not going to stop and let reality do whatever it wants to me."

Wolf suddenly remembered.

"I saw an… odd dragon today." Wolf said to Sedge. "Well actually, I saw much more than that. When I was stealing this bread, some men ran into the base. They charged soldiers and detonated themselves, killing themselves and the soldiers. When I was leaving, I met an odd dragon on a rooftop. He seemed to know… everything. And he was completely black."

"Oh god." Sedge said. "That's terrible. Who do you think could've done it?"

"The dragon said the guy who did it is named Johnathan Craney," Wolf replied.

"And he knows this how?" sedge asked

"I said! He knew everything!"

"sounds like a RainWing con artist to me." Sedge retorted.

"He knew my name, and also, he wasn't a RainWing! He looked like an IceWing without spikes, or a SandWing without a barb, or something like that!"

Sedge looked down at Wolf. "Sounds like you need to get some sleep, son." He said.

"No! I'm serious!" Wolf yelled. "I sound crazy, but it's true, I swear. I have no reason to lie!"

"Today has been a rough day for you, Wolf. Try to get some sleep. Please." Sedge said, unmoving. He left the room, and closed the door, leaving Wolf in complete darkness. Wolf couldn't see anything, but he could see Tide and Lilypad sitting on the beds, looking at a book about The Scorching.


	4. Chapter 3- Meeting

**I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. Next one will probably be longer.**

 **1 month later.**

"Men self-detonated in the army base?" Oliver clicked on the story. He scanned through it. "Police still looking for any other perpetrators… camera feed shows a man running in the opposite direction and exploding… camera feed shows only one surviving witness, an IceWing…"

"Yeah, I read that one too," Mason said, approaching Oliver from behind. "Apparently they wore red skin suits under their clothes, so they couldn't be identified. It also talks about screaming and odd walking."

"Drugs?" Oliver asked.

"Maybe." Mason said. "some of that new stuff is very nasty, hard to identify. Anyway, look into this later, Oliver. It's time for you to meet the head honcho. The big man on campus. Or should I say, woman?"

"Should you?" Oliver asked, not looking away from his computer.

"Er," Mason said awkwardly. "Yes, I should."

Oliver sighed, peeling away from the article. "Alright. Let's go then."

Mason led Oliver to the elevator. "Room sub-6," Mason said loudly and clearly. The elevator starts going down. Oliver had never been lower than the main floor. In fact, that, his apartment, and whatever room he was "born" in are the only rooms of the building Oliver ever went to. The elevator shot down six levels, and then the doors opened diagonally to reveal a reinforced door. Mason took out a key card, the door scanned it, then opened. Oliver and Mason walked into a large room with a desk, a long table, and a whiteboard absolutely covered in writing and notes. Oliver couldn't read anything on it except for a few words placed here and there.

At the desk was a middle-aged woman with silvery grey hair. Behind her was a large picture of an older woman who looked similar. Her hair was dyed the same color the woman's was.

"Hello, Oliver." The woman said kindly, in a thick Norweigan accent. "My name is Iris Mikaela. I'm the Overlooker. I'm the boss around here."

"Hello, Ms. Mikaela," Oliver said as seriously as he could while still sounding natural.

"Oliver, are you aware of the company that runs the SuperHuman Program?"

"Natio, correct?"

"Correct," Ms. Mikaela confirmed. confirmed. "But the program is also overseen by the government."

"Right." Oliver. "So… what… what's your point… here?"

"I was just making sure you were fully educated about the SuperHuman program's powers above." Said Ms. Mikaela, gesturing upwards. "Tell me, do you know how the SuperHuman program was founded?"

"No," Oliver said honestly. "I don't know that story."

"Well. My mom…" started, pointing to the picture of the older woman behind her desk. "She was a military general. One of the greats, actually. She was one of the key players for humans to win the war against the dragons. Realized that humans and dragons… had very different capabilities. So, she decided to combine their capabilities. Did you know we've been using the dragon DNA from the same 5 dragon volunteers from all the way back when she founded it?"

"No, I didn't," Oliver said.

"Yes. Dragons can be very large, and therefore have much to use." said matter-of-factly. "Oliver, have you… seen… any dragons while on a mission?" She asked.

"Yes," Oliver said slowly. "It died right in front of me."

raised her eyebrows. "Oh, sorry Oliver. What a shame it had to die like that. I'm sure it could've been put to good use in life."

"Good use?" Oliver asked. "What do you mean good use?"

"I'm just saying it's a shame it died so early on without being able to live life to it's fullest extent," explained Ms. Mikaela, smiling at Oliver.

"Um… okay then…"

"Well, I guess you must be going to work now then?" asked Ms. Mikaela.

"Yes, Ms. Mikaela."

"Please, call me Iris." She replied.

Mason lead Oliver out the door to the room.

Iris Mikaela looked out of her big window, thinking to herself. _I get the feeling that one might be trouble._ She turned around in her chair and turned on her computer. On the screen were cameras of the whole building, with playable audio.

-/-

Oliver was certain something was off. Not only was he bothered by Mason's words before, but now Iris… she kept calling the dragon… _it. Why? Why not just say "he" or "he/she?" what was with the "good use" thing?_ Something told Oliver she was hiding something, whether it is her own views or the views of the entire organization.

Oliver turned toward a guy at the desk next to him. He was named Joseph Stevens, and he never talked to Oliver.

"Hey, does something seem off about Mason to you?" Oliver asked him.

Joseph turned to Oliver with blank eyes. "No.," he said dully and turned back to his computer.

"Really? He acted really weirdly about a dragon dying on a mission. He said it was better that it died instead of a human." Oliver continued.

Joseph turned back to Oliver slowly. "and?" he said.

"Well," Oliver started, then stopped. "Doesn't- doesn't that seem wrong to you?"

"Why? It's true." Joseph said, and went back to his computer again.

Oliver narrowed his eyes at Joseph. _What?! Does he think dragons are inferior?_

 _I mean, if everyone thinks it… maybe… no. That can't be right. It can't be!_ Oliver looked around the room. He stood up and walked over to another SuperHuman.

"Hey. I'm new to… life. Are dragons inferior to humans?"

The SuperHuman kept his eyes on his computer. "Heh." He chuckled in a rough voice. "You say that as if anyone really knows."

Oliver raised his eyebrows. _This one's different._ The SuperHuman looked up at Oliver.

"What?" he asked. "Do you need something?"

"Um, no," Oliver said. "Thanks… though." He slowly walked back to his desk.

After asking multiple SuperHumans, Oliver started to get more and more weird looks from the SuperHumans. He noticed one whisper to another and point to Oliver. Noticing this, Oliver sat back down at his desk and looked again at that article about the explosions caused by the red-suited men. He got in really deep about the article, and he started noticing connections between times in the soldiers' schedule, and when the attack took place. Apparently, 7 entire loaves of bread also disappeared during the attack, something other investigators don't have any clue about. He completely zoned-out of reality, and when he got a tap on the shoulder, he jolted. He looked behind him not to see Mason, but the woman from the healing room, Amelia. She really stood out with her dark skin and hair.

"Oh, um hi," Oliver said.

"Hi." She said. "Um, you've been getting… talked about."

Oliver awkwardly laughed. "Yeah, I noticed. It's about my question, um- "

"Ah! Yeah. That's the thing." Amelia stopped Oliver. "Don't… don't ask about that. As much as I think it's kinda…" she lowered her voice. "suspicious, asking about it really hurts the way they look at you here, especially Mason."

"So that basically confirms it," Oliver said.

"Yes, I guess, but um… just do us all a favor and don't ask the regulars about it, ok?" Amelia said.

Oliver sighed, wanting to talk about it more. "Fine." He said, but it was not fine.

Oliver wondered why people say that. 'Fine,' to convey that you don't like it, but you'll agree. It just seemed odd to Oliver. Life so far was a weird thing to Oliver, and to be honest with himself, he wasn't sure if he liked it a lot. Oliver turned back to his desk and started looking at other cases, but he found himself returning to the one about the detonating men. It was just so strange and violent to Oliver. Eventually, near the end of working hours, Mason came in from his office and said to everyone

"A new recruit will be coming in today. Just letting you all know. Oliver, come to see me in my office."

Oliver's mind raced, wondering if the news of Oliver's research into Natio's dragon views had reached Mason. But when Oliver entered the office, Mason was all smiles.

"Hey. So, since you were our _last_ new recruit, I'll give you the run-down on how things work when this happens." Mason explained. "Basically, pay no attention at all to the new recruit. If he asks where to go, which, he should know, but… I don't know whatever. If he asks, just direct him over to me. You remember, right?"

How could Oliver forget? It such an unnatural, almost alien experience, which is odd considering the fact that nothing to him could possibly _be_ familiar. Oliver shivered when he remembered the odd zapping feel when he saw the chief's badge for the first time. It had never happened again. Oliver still had no idea why it happened, but it did, and just thinking of it sent shivers down his spine, like he was breaking some kind of law by doing so.

The elevator dinged, and Mason excitedly got up, and said "That must be him now! Go to your desk!" Oliver hurried over there, and just looked blankly at his computer. _Researching is a lot harder when you're forced to do it without looking at something more interesting._ Oliver thought. He heard the recruit walk by. Oliver momentarily looked up at him, and he saw something he'd never seen before. Anxiety. Maybe fear. But Oliver had seen it before. In the eyes of the hostages, the captured civilians. Oliver realized that this new recruit, just born into this world, is unintroduced to the very being of thinking one life is worth less than another. He's innocent to the thought of it. Oliver envied him.

The new recruit slowly marched into the chief's office, where Mason looked just as excited as he had when Oliver first met him. The new recruit also looked just as confused as Oliver had been during this experience, too. Oliver imagined the blank Joseph going through this, and his boring, emotionlessness having to deal with coming into existence. Thinking of this, Oliver was sure that Joseph, at that time, hadn't been the way he was now. Something must have changed for Joseph, whether that just came from time and getting used to the probably boring life he leads, or… Oliver had a thought pop into his head.

Whether that just came from time and getting used to the probably boring life he leads, or whether that change was forced on him.

Oliver looked back to his computer. _I wonder what it's gonna be like. This new recruit is someone who I can talk to about this, along with Amelia. He's someone who isn't going to have the same views as the program wants him to, at least at first._ A horrifying thought occurred to Oliver. _What if one day, I'll be like Joseph? What if this life, the life the program wants… what if it gets drilled into me enough to take me?_

 _No._

 _I won't let that happen._

 _ **No matter what it takes.**_


	5. Chapter 4- Mourning

**These are gonna get longer I swear. It's just these early chapters that revolve around setting up the story.**

Wolf hauled a stone slab over to the soft ground where his friends now rested. He slammed it into the ground next to another one, labeled "Tide The SeaWing." This one was labeled "Lilypad the SeaWing." Wolf exhaled and looked at the stones. He saw his two friends, looking back at him. Tide, shifting his weight and fidgeting, whereas Lilypad stood firm, calm and sure. Wolf would always be quiet beside them. They were both so much more interesting than him. Wolf had attended one of these makeshift funerals before but never had he grieved as heavily as he was now. Wolf didn't know who he would be with for all of the time he spent just sitting around. He didn't know how he would escape loneliness.

The same loneliness Tide and Lilypad had saved him from. Wolf had been sitting alone, against the wall, tears slowly sliding down his face. He had spent years alone on the streets, fighting to survive. But then, in that dark room, the loneliness consumed him, swallowing him whole, after tightening his throat and ripping out his soul. He had sat there alone. Until Lilypad approached him, and Tide gave him an apple.

Wolf had eaten the apple, and every day since then, his fruit of choice had been an apple. Wolf didn't even like them that much, but just biting into one gave Wolf the feeling he had gotten on that day Tide gave him the apple. Just the taste of the fruit made Wolf happy and made him feel cared about.

Now, Wolf was eating that fruit again. He took a bite of the apple while looking at the graves of his friends. Sedge was nearby, watching Wolf. Rain dripped down on the stones, darkening their color. Rain hid the tears on Wolf's face, as he took another bite of the apple. It was bitter, a bad taste swirling around Wolf's mouth. He hated it, but still, he took another bite. The rain sped up, started hitting harder, beating on Wolf's face. He felt it drip off of his horns and onto his back. He exhaled a plume of frostbreath, freezing the air and raindrops, creating a small weak chunk of ice, which crashed at his talons. The cold of the rain did not bother Wolf. It was the one IceWing trait Wolf found useful. He brought the apple back up to his mouth, about to take a bite. He stopped himself before it reached his lips, and he shot a blast of frostbreath onto the apple, covering it in ice. The drops of rain on the apple froze, giving it stalactites hanging off of the bottom.

Wolf heard Sedge walk up behind him.

"It's rough," he said. "To lose someone close to you."

Wolf narrowed his eyes. He knew Sedge had gone through this before. Multiple times and he was going through it now, with the others who had died. Yet, somehow, Sedge stayed strong.

"How do you do it?" Wolf asked him bluntly. "How do you do this?! How do you get past this?! I feel like…" Wolf broke, his voice catching. Sedge put a talon on his shoulder.

"Life goes on. You go on with it. You take the loss of them, and you use it to push yourself forward. To make you stronger." Sedge explained.

"Everything happens for a reason. It's a tragedy, but it's all part of the plan of some higher force. This is a turning point for you, Wolf. Don't make it a bad one."

Wolf looked up to Sedge. Sedge had not shed a single tear. Wolf slowed his breath, to match the pace of Sedge's.

"For you to stay alive this long… while so many others have died…" Wolf started. "You really must be destined for something great."

Sedge looked over at the distant city skyline behind them.

"You think so?" Sedge asked.

"You're so brave and strong…" Wolf said through his slowing tears. "You're the hero this world needs."

Sedge's eyes reflected the light of the rising sun. "There is never only one hero, Wolf. There are many." He said.

Wolf lowered his shoulders, exhaled, lowered his brow, and set his gaze forward. Sedge dug something out of a pocket in his black clothing. It was a small notebook, almost like a diary.

"It was Lilypad's." Sedge explained. "I've done some catching up on her life. Seems like she had some pretty powerful viewpoints." Sedge handed the journal to Wolf.

On the cover of the journal was a human, wearing a silver robe. He had no visible face, and he was holding a pocket watch. Upon further examination, Wolf could see some coordinates scribbled on the front.

"What's all this?" Wolf asked Sedge.

"What?" he replied. "It's a blank cover." The large MudWing exhaled. "Listen. It's been tough for you. I understand. Go back to the bunker and rest. Take it easy today, okay?"

Wolf sat down, with a headache.

Sedge lightly took back the notebook. "Don't let them die in vain. Keep fighting, through any challenges of your life."

Wolf watched Sedge leave. He motioned for the others to follow him, and he took off toward the city. Wolf turned back to the graves and crushed the frozen apple in his serrated claws.

-/-

Wolf was flying back to the city. He saw Sedge and the other leaders of Basilisk in front of him. The intelligent and strategic Harpoon, a SeaWing, and his cousin Atlantic, who has been in Basilisk for even longer than Sedge. There was also Amazon the RainWing. He had learned his abilities from a dragon graduate from medical school. It was a huge achievement when that happened. It was on the news and everything. The first dragon to be accepted into and graduate from an Ivy League college.

That dragon was quickly killed.

That hate crime, however, didn't make all the big news stations. Half the people who heard the story never learned what happened to the dragon. Wolf had noticed that humans liked to focus on the positive while ignoring the negative. Wolf didn't know how dragons were. They weren't the ones making global decisions, affecting the world, changing lives. Dragons were the ones whose lives were being changed. Wolf knew that side of the coin all too well.

Wolf didn't know why he fought. He didn't know why he joined Basilisk. Wolf's oldest memory is him sitting on the street, starving. Wolf had never tasted an apple. Sedge found him there. Barely able to look up at the large dragon. Without a word, the dragon picked Wolf up, gave him a meal, and a bed in Basilisk. Wolf had never been more grateful to anyone ever. Not even when he first tasted the apple. Needless to say, Wolf has been loyal to Basilisk and their ideologies ever since that day. It's all he knew.

Wolf was sure that what he saw on the book was real, and not some kind of hallucination. He didn't understand why Sedge couldn't see it, but Wolf kept the coordinates written on the book cover in his head. 42.2160 degrees North, 71.0676 degrees West. Wolf was making plans in his head already to find out what's there. Wolf knew it must be nearby, so he wouldn't be gone for long. _If anything interesting is there, then something's definitely strange here. Sedge not being able to see the coordinates or the man… it must mean something._

 _I get the feeling I'll find out what there._

-/-

Wolf and the others arrived at Basilisk early that morning. Over breakfast, Sedge stood up on the end of the table and looked out over the small crowd of dragons.

"The losses of yesterday were sudden and tragic." Sedge announced. "But don't let that trick you into submission. Now, we have a drive. We shall push for our cause like never before, as the dragons who died yesterday who have wanted us too."

Wolf leaned in, listening. Sedge kept speaking. "Yesterday, I had a conversation with Wolf the IceWing. It reminded me, that we are all alive for a reason. Destiny has lead us down this path, and I think we should all believe in that destiny. If we don't make a change, why do we exist? Why have we stayed here? It's because we have the fight in us to make a change. We can change the world if we truly believe in ourselves, and our cause!"

Wolf expected the dragons to cheer. There was a polite smattering of applause, but nothing more, for such powerful, meaningful words. Sedge was much more visibly disappointed.

"We'll plan." He said. "We'll make a plan. We'll do something. We'll stop a rally. Soon, the Anti-Dragon group of Suprema will hold a rally against dragons. We can stop it. We won't harm anyone, we'll just anti-protest with more force than they can protest! We can do it!"

This time, more dragons turned away from their small portions of food and looked at Sedge.

"This is gonna be big, I can feel it." He said.


	6. Chapter 5- Fear

**Now's a great time to inform the readers that The Lost Continent dragons do not exist in this story.**

" **That is the kind of thing only a human would do. They do it to exercise their power, and they do that because they want to prove superiority over others. That is one of the key things about humans: Their need to show superiority."**

Mason jogged over to Oliver's desk.

"You were really interested in those red-suited guys, right? Wasn't that you?" Mason said hurriedly.

"Yeah, it was. Why what's happening?!" Oliver said, picking up on Mason's franticness.

"More of them at Copley, right now! Let's go!" Mason shouted.

Oliver quickly grabbed his two pistols and rushed out the door behind Mason. They hopped into one of their odd windowless cars and sped down the street. SuperHumans were programmed to do all sorts of helpful things, such as drive, by second nature. Oliver wondered why this technology wasn't used for pretty much everyone. Oliver thought a world where everyone was born knowing how to tie their shoes would be a better one.

Mason and Oliver turned down to Copley Square, where there were some police aiming at some men with red skin suits underneath regular clothes. There was evidence that some had already detonated, such as destroyed pieces of road, and ambulances bringing in police officers who had been caught in the blast.

"STAND DOWN, AND STAY AWAY FROM EVERYONE, OR WE WILL SHOOT." Said a police officer with a megaphone to the people in red.

There were lots of dragons nearby, of all sorts of different colors. Most people took off running, but some stayed and watched. In the front of the crowd, Oliver noticed something. During his missions, most of them not-very-exciting, Oliver had seen multiple dragons out and about. They were always from a distance. The only dragon he had ever seen up-close was the one who died in the explosion during the hostage situation. While he had never seen them up close, he had gotten used to their colors: blue, green, tan, yellow, brown, white, or multiple random colors at once. However, this dragon in the front of the crowd of dragons was completely jet black. He had some bright reflective silver scales near his eyes and under his wings, but nowhere else. His color never changed or moved. Oliver had never seen anything like this dragon before.

While looking at this dragon, the dragon snapped his head directly at Oliver. Oliver jolted. A smile slowly crossed his face, forever widening. The dragon's eyes flared. Oliver saw the dragon's mouth moving subtly, and at that very moment, a red-suited person went flying through the air away from the others toward the police. The person exploded into fire, causing the ground to shake. Now, under no threat, the other people slowly crept forward, right down the street. They walked right past the dragons, the dark one watching. He was completely focused on them. One of the people stopped, and the dragon's attention snapped toward them.

"NO!" The person screamed, and he too went flying through the air, right toward the ambulance. Oliver realized what was happening, and shot the person multiple times. The force of the bullets sent the man just barely off track, and the blast of his explosion only caught the side of one ambulance, making it shake, but not fall. The ambulance took off down the street. Oliver looked for the black dragon, but he had disappeared into the crowd.

"What should we do?!" Oliver asked Mason.

"We can't just kill them outright. We need to somehow stop them from progressing." Mason said.

"Whatever barricade we put up, they might be able to be flung over it." Oliver said. "and an EMP won't work, it didn't in the building that time."

"No, no it didn't…" Mason watched the people in red slowly walk down the street, the ones in the back getting pushed forward to the front. "But who says this is the same technology? It could be totally different, and it doesn't hurt to try…" Mason took out his EMP and clicked the button. The traffic and police lights went out, but the red-suited men didn't stop walking. One of them ran into a shop nearby, with a big "NO DRAGONS" sign in the front of it. The man exploded, destroying the shop. Others ran into different shops, all of them with "NO DRAGONS" signs on the doors or windows. Oliver and Mason raced ahead, shooting the ones charging the buildings.

"Oliver, you go and warn shops that don't allow dragons. I'll take care of things here!"

"You sure?" Oliver asked.

"YES! Go!" Mason shouted, shooting a charging red-suited person.

Oliver raced down the road. He burst through the door of the closest Anti-dragon shop, a candy store. Oliver ripped down the sign and hurled it at the guy behind the cash register.

"KEEP THIS DOWN!" Oliver said and raced out the door. Oliver looked back and saw the cashier guy hanging the sign back up. Without thinking, Oliver shot the sign through the glass, putting a big hole in it and destroying the window. The guy came out with an older woman, yelling at him.

"You can't do this! It's not up to you what we can have on our shop window!" She screamed.

Oliver looked back and saw a red-suited guy charging them. Oliver pulled the trigger on his gun, but it was too late. The man exploded. Oliver turned away, preferring not to look. He ran to the next shop, a couple blocks away, luckily. That was far enough away to explain at least a little bit. Oliver slammed open the door and yelled

"THE RED SUITS WILL KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T TAKE THIS SIGN DOWN NOW!" Oliver pointed to the "NO DRAGONS" sign, and he left, leaving customers and employees very confused. He looked back and saw them obediently taking down the sign. Oliver sighed relief.

That process went on for some time, and Oliver looked back and saw the newly named Red-Suits walk right past the shops. Oliver exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. Oliver saw Mason zoom past them on the sidewalk, and up to Oliver.

"They'll keep going. We'll have to take down every sign in the city, and even then, we can't be sure they won't detonate. We have to do something to stop them." Oliver said.

"We can think of… something." Mason said. "I don't want to resort to killing them."

 _I doubt he'd say that if they're dragons._ Oliver thought to himself, but he didn't say anything, of course.

"You're right." Oliver heard from behind him, and he whipped around, pointing his gun forward. But nothing was there.

"What?!" Mason asked, turning as well. "Did you see something?!"

"No… I…" Oliver started. _Was that voice responding to me?_

"You… what?" Mason said.

"I heard something. Guess it was nothing." Oliver replied, turning back to the Red-Suits. _Just creepy timing, I guess._ Suddenly, the large black dragon landed n front of Oliver and Mason. His wings were spread wide and grand, his eyes calculating, cutting right into Oliver. He had silver tear-drop shaped scales near his eyes, and the undersides of his wings were speckled like a night sky.

"Finally. I get to meet you, Oliver." The dragon said. "and you, Mason."

Mason aimed his gun at Moonfall "Who are you?!"

The dragon said. His eyes focused on Oliver. "So, you visited seven shops and told them about the signs. It's a shame you put that effort in." The dragon flicked his tail, and the Red-Suits charged down the road toward the shops.

"NO!" Oliver shouted, and shot two of them. Mason aimed his gun forward, but the dragon leaped in front of hid bullets, taking them. The dragon fell to the ground, bleeding. Dead. One Mason wasn't able to hit reached a shop and detonated. Mason and Oliver dashed forward. They were forced to shoot all of them until there was one left. The Red-Suit turned around and faced Oliver and Mason with his hands up. The man screamed, exploded, bigger than any of them. The blast destroyed the plastic road.

Mason sighed. "Plastic roads may be better for the environment, but they're a whole lot worse at taking damage." Mason almost ran down to see the damage, but he heard a noise from behind him. He and Oliver turned around, and saw the black dragon, standing up, looking right at them, a large smile across his face.

"wh- I saw you die!" Oliver said.

"Yes." The dragon said. "looks can be awfully deceiving." The dragon walked slowly up to Oliver, and Oliver felt the emotion he saw in the new recruit's eyes, in the eyes of the soon-to-be-dead dragon on his first mission. Oliver felt fear. He had understood what fear was, but he had never imagined the intensity of it. Oliver took a slow step back, and then he froze. He couldn't move. The dragon got closer and closer, edging toward him. The end of the dragon's snout was not a centimeter away from Oliver's eyes. The dragon moved his head down until they were looking eye-to-eye.

"You don't have any legal proof that I'm connected to the Red-Suits." The dragon said. "What are you gonna report, the flick of the tail, the gesture of an eye? That'll put the SuperHuman program under quite the controversy."

Oliver got ahold of himself, straightening his back and gripping his guns. "How do you know I think you're connected?"

"I'm… familiar with humans. Especially when it comes to dragons. I know you were looking at me, back at the crowd. You can't do anything to me, though." The dragon's eyes kept focusing, blanking and the emotion was constantly changing. Thinking, happy, taunting, victorious, back to thinking.

"Go ahead and strike me, Oliver. Give your best shot. I guarantee that it'll hurt you more than me." The dragon said. Oliver turned and walked away from the dragon, not looking back at him.

The dragon loudly laughed. "You don't think you'll think about me at the end of the day, or that you'll talk about me to your friends. You think you're too good for me."

Oliver looked at Mason, who was death staring the dragon. Mason's fists tightened, and he reluctantly put his pistols away. Oliver wondered what Mason would've done next if he didn't put away his guns and walk after Oliver, to no doubt get interviewed by the media and be asked about the situation. Mason pushed past Oliver, looking back at the dragon. Oliver didn't want to look back at him. Oliver knew the dragon was at least a little right. But if Oliver looked back,

Suddenly, Oliver fell to the ground, his mind fuzzing intensely. He saw a police badge again, a person-sized shallow hole in both an asphalt road, and a plastic one. He saw tears and blood, and he saw dragons, two SeaWings among them. There was a large orange dragon and gunfire.

"Oliver! Are you okay?" Mason rushed over to him. "What did he do to you?!"

"He… didn't do anything." Oliver said, getting back to his feet. "At least, I don't think."

Mason glared back at the dragon, and the two SuperHumans rushed off. As they turned the corner, Oliver glanced back at the dragon, who chuckled.

-/-

Oliver stepped back into the SuperHuman building, exhausted. Mason came in after him, and he jogged right into the elevator. Oliver walked back to his desk. Sure enough, more reports were in. Oliver made a file called "RED-SUITS" and put news reports and alerts about them into the file. Oliver needed to find out what technology they were using, or some other new way to stop them.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the black dragon popped back into Oliver's head. _I should learn about that._ Oliver looked up black dragons, and only found reports on stuff like "What does it mean when scales turn black?" or "What color does black represent on a RainWing?" Oliver didn't even know what that meant. He leaned back in his chair. _Whatever this dragon's deal is, it's probably unique._ Oliver thought. While staring off into space, Oliver spied Amelia across the room. Oliver got up and race-walked over to her.

"Hey… Amelia." Oliver said.

"Oh. Hi." She said. "You were on that mission, with the exploding people, weren't you? What happened?!" She looked intently at Oliver.

"A… a lot of stuff. It was pretty horrible. They targeted all stores that didn't allow dragons."

"Really? And they were humans?" Amelia asked. "... interesting."

"Speaking of dragons… what… 'types' are there?" Oliver asked.

"Um, ok. So, there are 5 types of dragons." Amelia explained. "IceWings, which can withstand cold, bright light, and can breathe frostbreath to freeze things. They also have serrated claws."

"Mhm," Oliver said, wondering whether or not to write this down.

"RainWings, which can shoot a deadly venom out of their mouths and can camouflage their scales. If they don't have any clothes or jewelry on, they can turn virtually invisible." Amelia continued. "Their colors often change to show their emotions, like a big living mood ring."

 _That's the one that died that day._

"Does light, whitish-green mean fear?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know," Amelia said. "I want to do research on that, I'm always so busy."

"Yeah," Oliver said. _It must take a long time to teach student dragons that._

"There are also MudWings, large, normally brown dragons who have thick scales, and… yeah, that's pretty much it." Amelia said, racking her brain. "SeaWings, who have gills and can swim really well… and… um…" Amelia looked up at the ceiling, straining to remember. "SandWings, who have poisonous barbs on their tails, and can withstand and give off lots of heat." Amelia exhaled. "yeah. That's the five."

"Wow," Oliver said. "That's… very interesting. So they have poisonous barbs on their tails? Isn't that dangerous?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm guessing they are taught how to deal with them," Amelia explained. "Oh, and don't forget, SandWings and MudWings can breathe fire."

"They can breathe fire? That's probably really helpful." Oliver said.

"Yeah," Amelia replied. "I really gotta go. I have a lot of stuff to do. Later!" She walked away, and Oliver realized she forgot the papers she printed. He picked them up and walked up behind her.

"Amelia!" Oliver got her attention, and she turned around to face him. "You… forgot these." He said, and she smiled at him. "Thanks." Oliver felt a smile, and she turned around to walk back to her desk. Oliver was left standing there, feeling another emotion he had never felt before.


	7. Chapter 6- Mural

Wolf was flying away from the city. The dragons back at Basilisk were raising more funds, and starting to plan how to shut down the anti-dragon rally without the use of violence. Wolf decided to take the day to make sure what he saw on the journal cover was real. Wolf was almost there, to the coordinates, which lead him into a vast open area of nature, which was strange considering how close it was to the city. There were trees, hills, and large boulders. It was more nature than Wolf had ever seen in his life. It stretched for miles, as far as the eye could see. Wolf landed on a small rocky plateau and looked around. Wolf could see mountains, forests, and ponds. Long yellow grass tickled his scales, with shrubs and dead branches scraping against his tail. Wolf took a deep breath, and exhaled powerfully, enough to create the smallest amount of frozen air.

"This is… awesome." Wolf said aloud, to nobody. Wolf looked up to see distant airplanes zooming overhead. There were no clouds in the endless blue sky. Wolf sat down under a lone tree in the open area and just took in the landscape around him. _Is this it, Lilypad? Is this where you wanted me to go? When did you ever make time to come here yourself? It's incredible. Why didn't you tell me about it sooner?_

Wolf traced long cracks in the rock below him with his serrated claw. He kept looking at a hill below him, covered in trees. His eyes scanned it. It was more trees than he had ever seen all in one place. Something on the hill caught Wolf's eye, ever so slightly. Wolf turned his head to look at it. A break in the trees, a dark crevice.

 _I ought to check that out. That could be it._ Wolf glided over to the indent on the hill, a rocky outcropping, with a large dark cave in it. Sunlight was trying to get into the cave, to brighten it, but the darkness of the cave wasn't affected at all. The light couldn't puncture the dark. Wolf took a few steps into the cave. He could barely see. He stumbled around a bit and felt around with his claws. Wolf felt rock in front of him, and to his left. He turned to his right, and walked forward slowly, with his claws out front again.

Wolf built up the frost in his throat. _If some kind of animal is in here, I gotta be ready. Not looking to get my face cut open by a bear today. That would be painfully hard to explain._ After taking a few more unseen twists, Wolf saw a bit of cave, around a bend, illuminated by a fiery light. Wolf gulped. Something was making that light. Wolf moved toward it, readying himself, and then sped around the corner. The light was coming from a torch on the wall, still lit and burning. Wolf found himself facing a long, long tunnel, lit entirely by torches. _Somebody's been here. Recently enough to light these._ Wolf walked slowly down the tunnel, on guard. His tail curled upward, the spikes pointing out the opposite direction. Wolf noticed something on the wall beside him. _Drawings._ Wolf looked down the tunnel, and realized that from where Wolf was standing and on, the tunnel walls were covered in Murals, pictures of dragons and humans fighting, dead dragons, dead humans, cities on fire, and at the head of it all… a large dragon. One of a color Wolf had never seen a dragon be before.  
It was a weird week for Wolf. First, he meets the odd black dragon who seemed to know everything about Wolf, and now, a picture of a large orange dragon. He was huge, in comparison to the army, and his scales seemed to let off smoke. The dragon had visible scars, and there was fire at his feet, and all the grass behind him was burnt and blackened. In the army, Wolf also saw black dragons, as well as orange, red and purple. The black and purple ones were distinguishable. They had starscapes under their wings, and some of them were breathing fire. In the back, there was a group of 4 black ones, all trailing behind the group.  
Right beside the large orange dragon, was a small white one, an IceWing. The army of dragons was marching into a city, and behind the city were RainWings, only distinguishable by their ruffs, and their more brilliant colors. In the next picture, there were soldiers in the city, shooting and killing dragons. The orange dragon, two red dragons, and three MudWings were tearing through the army. At the front of the mass of dragons, which were now all over the sky, in the city, or dead, was the smaller IceWing. The dragonet's eyes were now a bright white, and there were tons of dead soldiers around the IceWing.

The next picture was the grimmest. It showed the entire army, even the black ones in the back, dead, slaughtered. The floor was also littered with human bodies, but there were more humans alive. The orange dragon was flying away from the city, leaving a trail of fire. There were more murals, of all sorts of battles, massacres, and other horrible things. What Wolf found the most interesting was a recreation of the plan-out to turn North America into another continent. The map had different instructions, and the part of Alaska nearest to Russia, as well as the Panama Canal, circled. The huge, complicated map was labeled "PYRRHIA."

"Pyrrhia," Wolf said to himself. "What a strange name." Wolf reached the end of the tunnel. It was a dead end. _Whoever was here to light these torches must have left before I came here. I wonder who else knew about this other than Lilypad? I wonder who made this? Definitely a dragon from the war. It must be pretty old._

After all of this, though, Wolf was left with one huge, nagging question. One he could not understand no matter what. _What happened to the different colored dragons?_ Black, purple, red and orange. Colors Wolf had only ever seen on RainWings, but these dragons were definitely not RainWings. _Did the war wipe them out? Surely, that couldn't happen. It just doesn't make sense._

-/-

It was night now. Wolf sat on top of a building, one of two making the alley that the Basilisk hideout was underneath. Wolf was staring up at the stars, and down at the city. A complete contrast to the incredible natural beauty outside of Boston, with trees and rocks and caves. Wolf knew that whatever he experienced today was something much larger than him. _I'll go to the public library tomorrow. If I read up about the war, that stuff in the cave might make a bit more sense._ Wolf jumped off the building, spreading his wings to catch the air and land gracefully on the concrete of the alley. Wolf walked over to the hatch, yawning. Right before he opened it, though, he saw a small letter sitting right in front of the trapdoor. Wolf picked it up, confused. Nobody had ever sent them a letter before, nobody knew where they were. Wolf opened the letter and took out a card.

The front of the card was a beautiful night sky, with blues and purples and Aurora Borealis in the bottom left corner. The moon was bright, illuminating snow below. Wolf gawked at the picture, before opening the card.

 _I see you are planning to stop the Suprema rally coming up. I know how to help you incredibly. Come to Copley Square, at the meeting of St. James and Claredon. I'll be there._

 _-Night._

Wolf held the card gingerly in his talons, opened the hatch, and dropped down. Wolf almost forgot to close the door above him. Wolf immediately glided over to Sedge's room. Wolf knocked quickly and kept knocking until Sedge grudgingly opened the door.

"Not now, can't you see I'm busy, kid?" Sedge said, annoyed.

"This was waiting right outside the door," Wolf said seriously, holding out the letter to Sedge, opened. "Whoever wrote this knows our plan."

In the SuperHuman headquarters, there was a table, with a printer on it. Not so long ago, a SuperHuman had printed something out of this printer. Another SuperHuman named Oliver had talked to her here. Neither of them had noticed or thought about the camera directly above that table, the kind of camera that could record audio. The kind of camera that connected directly to the computer monitor on top of the OverLooker of the SuperHuman program's desk.


	8. Chapter 7- Taken

**Hope everyone here at the WoF Archive had a great Christmas!**

Ever since that day at the printer, Oliver and Amelia had been having secret conversations, near daily. It wasn't always even about dragons. Some days, it was about something like bread, or boring SuperHumans. Some days it was something serious. Today was one of those days, Oliver could tell. When he walked into the SuperHuman Garage, the regular location to their meetings, Oliver could see something was bothering Amelia. She was sitting with her head in her hands, her back hunched over.

"Amelia? Are you okay?" Oliver asked, and he sat down next to her. Amelia stayed quiet.

"You asked for me to be here. Why?" Oliver couldn't tell what was bothering her at all. He couldn't see her face, and her body language could only tell Oliver that 'she was upset' and nothing more.

"Did something happen on a mission?" Oliver asked. _I didn't see any reports on anything major happening._

After a few more moments of silence, Amelia straightened herself and looked up at the ceiling.

"Don't you ever wonder what's out there?" She asked.  
Oliver was surprised by a question, instead of an explanation as to why she was so sad. "Sometimes, I guess. I wonder why the cars don't really have windows."

"It's got to be to block us," Amelia said. "They probably don't want us going against what they tell us to do, and so they don't want us to find a reason to."

Oliver looked away from Amelia to consider this. _This might tie back into their possible anti-dragon ideas._ "Maybe…" Oliver said, now slightly absent-minded.

"We deserve to know, don't we? What kind of world we're in? The terrors, as well as the wonders?" Amelia was ranting now, almost yelling. "I mean, we live in a coastal city, yet we've barely ever seen the ocean. We only go out for missions, other than that we are constantly indoors!" Amelia turned back toward Oliver, lowering her voice, keeping herself calm.

"Oliver, have you ever looked up at the stars? Have you ever been able to sit back, and look at the wide world around you? They send us out there and bring us back in as fast as possible. We don't get time to do these things." Amelia looked up at the ceiling. "I've read about it. The power of it. To be part of this world. The people out there take it for granted. I just want the right to have the ability _to_ take it for granted. That's all."

Oliver was speechless. _Amelia must have become a SuperHuman quite some time ago if she's been able to conjure all this up._

"That was… incredible. I've never thought that way before. Amelia, you're a genius!" Oliver said.

Amelia exhaled. "Okay. I'm done ranting. I just had to get some of that off my chest. I actually live quite the life of luxury, right? I should probably not complain about it."

"No… no, you're right," Oliver said. "You're completely right. We do deserve to experience these things."

"Maybe," Amelia said. "I don't know. There is no way to know, that's the problem."

"Yeah." Oliver agreed.

"So," Amelia said, changing the subject. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"Nothing I say will seem meaningful after that," Oliver said truthfully. Amelia chuckled.

"Anything's better than getting back to work." She said with a smile. Now it was Oliver's turn to chuckle.

"Okay…" He said. "How about how this high-tech building can't manage to keep a ceiling light from burning out every week?"

Amelia laughed again.

"Seriously!" Oliver said. "I feel like there's always someone having to pull up a ladder and climb up there to replace a light. We're lucky we're all super-advanced mega-beings, or else half of us would've died from falling off those shaky ladders."

It was magic. Oliver had never even thought too hard about the lights, yet it came naturally to him now. Amelia was still laughing, and Oliver was joining her.

"I guess the funds are high enough for us all to have these nice suits, but not enough for us to buy a better ladder?" Amelia asked, and they both continued laughing. The two of them continued this for an immeasurable amount of time. Oliver never bothered to check his watch.

"Why do they call them watches?" Oliver asked Amelia. "You don't watch them, you just tap a screen and the time, temperature, compass, and all the other things show up."

"I have no idea," Amelia said. "Who knows why they name things the way they do?"

Something about what was happening here just made Oliver happy. The two could say pretty much anything, and they'd laugh at least a little bit. Today was a day for Oliver to remember. Everything Amelia said or did was just perfect somehow, and Oliver couldn't stop looking at her. He kept feeling that magic feeling, Oliver had no way else to describe it.

Directly behind Oliver was the door handle. It was turning. Oliver jumped upwards and faced the door, and behind it was Mason. He had a look in his eyes. One like he had never seen before on anyone. It wasn't fear. Or anger. It was all in his eyes, not the rest of his body. They somehow seemed sad or disappointed, yet his body was angry. Amelia could sense it too.

"We'll get right to work, I promise!" Amelia said to Mason, but somehow the pit forming in Oliver's stomach knew that this wasn't about that. Something very, very bad was about to happen. Mason walked inside, and 4 other SuperHumans came in behind him. Before Oliver could even think about anything, the four raced in and apprehended Amelia and Oliver, throwing what could only be described as torturous handcuffs around Amelia's hands. The two SuperHumans who had apprehended Oliver handed him off to Mason, who kept Oliver still as he struggled.

"Stop, Oliver. She's been poisoning your mind." Mason said. "If only we had known beforehand that she'd been thinking these things. We could've saved you."

Amelia was shouting. She got the chain of the handcuffs around the door handle, and broke them on it, along with the door handle. She kicked one SuperHuman into the doorframe and punched one in the jaw. The two that had been dealing with Oliver ran over to her, grabbed both of her hands. The one in the doorframe got up, with a taser this time, and Amelia kicked her. One of the SuperHumans holding her arms used the other hand to slam into her knee and stepped on her foot. He punched her knee repeatedly, making a snapping sound eventually. Amelia yelled once more.

Oliver couldn't look away. He just couldn't. Not until Mason covered his eyes.

"I'm so sorry you had to see this, Oliver." He said, calmly and quietly. "There is no other way to deal with this. She shouldn't be fighting back like this."

Amelia was still struggling, but now the one with the taser got her neck, and she crumpled downward, held up by her arms. The SuperHuman who had got punched in the jaw stood back up. It was Joseph. He took out more of those awful handcuffs and got both of her wrists into them. The four SuperHumans escorted the Amelia into an elevator right across the hall. Amelia was facing Oliver, who broke out of Mason's grasp with no resistance.

Amelia opened her eyes and looked right into Oliver's.

"Remember." She said quietly. "Remember what I said."

And just like that, the elevator doors closed, cutting off one last shout from Amelia. Oliver turned back to Mason. He didn't look apologetic. He looked in pity.

"Don't listen to her, she doesn't know what she's talking about." He said to Oliver.

Oliver clenched his fists. Oliver felt the same as he did when he heard Mason talk about the dead dragon, although this time, it roared inside Oliver, pulsing through his veins, his heart, everywhere. Oliver didn't even realize it was roaring out of his mouth, too.

"Hey there," Mason said, approaching Oliver, sitting him down onto a bench in the hallway. "You need to get her words out of your head. They're POISON, Oliver. POISON."

"ALL SHE WANTED WAS TO SEE THE WORLD!" Oliver shouted. "AND YOU TOOK THAT AWAY FROM HER!"

"She wanted to run away. She wouldn't know what to do once she was out there. She's just being rebellious, Oliver. Don't let it contaminate you too."

"Yeah?!" Oliver said. "What are you gonna do to her?!"

"We're gonna fix her. Being rebellious is a neural process, so we just fix that. It only takes a minute. She'll be fine." Mason said, as calm as ever. He stood up, and then leaned over, pointing through the doorway to the garage, where there was a camera on the ceiling. Mason whispered in Oliver's ear. "You're lucky it was me that saw you two." and with that, Mason turned and left, leaving Oliver alone in the hallway, sitting on a bench, crying for the first time in his life. It was such a strange experience, to cry. If you didn't think about it, you didn't feel the tears dripping down your face. Having your eyes so incredibly wet felt so strangely natural. You would think it would sting, like putting your eyes underwater, (something Oliver would probably never do.) but it didn't feel wrong. The gaping hole that had formed into Oliver took in all the emotion from crying. _I wonder if crying_ would _sting if the pain wasn't focused on your soul._ Oliver had barely known Amelia. Why did it feel like he'd lost everyone? There was nobody in Oliver's life anymore. All the SuperHumans were just work machines, and Mason and Iris Mikaela were now officially enemies of Oliver. There was nobody for him to talk about his suspicions about Natio with, or the broken lights.

Oliver had never needed to talk to someone about the broken lights before. He never had that urge, but the day it came, it felt wonderful. That same day, it was ripped away from him, right in front of him. Not only was it taken, but it was burnt.

That wide, gaping, dark hole inside of Oliver was massive and empty. You could look in every direction, and there would be nothing for as far as the eye could see. Just vast emptiness. But suddenly, something inside of Oliver's head sparked. This spark ignited a flame inside that vast emptiness, and a small flame, that was slowly and steadily rising. The fire was rising. It was illuminating the darkness, not with light. With purpose. Oliver only had enemies in this world, and his life was just starting. Oliver stood up, looking straight ahead. _'Remember what I said.'_

Yes. Oliver only had enemies in this world.

 _So, then. What do I fix? My enemies, or the world?_

 **Hours earlier**

Mason was sitting at his desk. No alerts had come in yet that day. Mason was tiredly scrolling through different reports of small crimes, a string of bags being stolen on the same street, a home invasion, nothing to be super-concerned about. A phone ring saved Mason from the incredible mundane-ness of the situation. Mason swiveled around in his chair, to see the phone. 'Iris.' Mason sighed and picked up the phone.

"Hello, Iris, what's happening in the wonderful world of OverLooking?"

"Mason, I need to go to a Natio meeting today. Could you keep an eye on the cameras for me? You don't have to watch them constantly, just keep an eye or an ear open for them." Iris said in her typical, boring upright manner.

"Yeah, yeah I can do that," Mason said. _Well, at least that's something._ Mason opened up the camera's file, one that had been installed onto the computer when Mason first became chief.

Every now and again, Mason would flip through the cameras as instructed, while he kept scrolling through articles. At one point, he heard a loud door slam. Instinctively Mason looked up to the door into his office, but when nobody was there, Mason realized it must be coming from the cameras. Mason flipped through them until he landed on the garage camera. Amelia, a SuperHuman Mason wasn't very familiar with, was sitting on the stairs with her head in her hands. Mason ignored it until he heard the voice of Oliver. Mason quickly switched onto the cameras on his monitor, and he saw the two sitting on the stairwell. Mason leaned in, wondering what the two were here for. It obviously wasn't work-related, but Mason would be the biggest hypocrite in the world if he got mad at them for being off-task here. Sometimes Mason felt like 50% of what he did wasn't productive. _It's like having writer's block, for other stuff._

But then, Amelia started talking. She wasn't talking about anything like Mason would've guessed. She was talking about…

Freedom.

Mason had only ever heard about this. It's when a SuperHuman starts taking their blessed life for granted, and they start wanting to leave and explore the world, doing nothing to help society. _Dear god, she could turn Oliver into one. I can't let her make Oliver a rebel, especially since he's so new. It might even reflect badly on me as chief._ Mason darted for a phone, to call some SuperHumans in to take Amelia to the Redirection Room.

But for some reason, for some strange reason, for a reason Mason would never be able to explain on any day of his life, Mason stopped as Amelia stopped talking, and Oliver replied. They kept going back and forth, building off one another. Mason slowly put the phone back. There was something… between them. Mason had heard about different members of the force becoming friends, sometimes great friends, inseparable. Mason had seen friends in-action before. This wasn't that, at least, Mason didn't think. Oliver started talking about the horrible light fixtures on the roof of the main floor, and Mason started to chuckle to himself.

The two kept going. They just kept going. Everything they said seemed to spur on something new, a new conversation, a new topic, something completely different from the last. Mason could only describe it as…

 _Electricity?_

He didn't know. He didn't know a word for it. Nothing came to mind. It was incredible. The two of them connected so well… Mason kept watching them. He checked his clock again. The two had been going for half an hour. Mason eventually got back to 'work', and he could still hear the two bouncing back and forth. All throughout the workday. Mason didn't want to tell them to get back to work because then this… electricity would be stopped. Mason wished he could analyze it further. Suddenly, thinking about getting them back to work, a thought came to mind. _I need to bring Amelia to the Redirection Room! How could I forget?!_ Before he could let himself think too hard about it again, Mason shot for the phone. He called for 4 other SuperHumans, and Mason explained to them the situation. The 5 of them walked into the garage. Mason looked down at Oliver in remorse. _It's such a shame you two's electricity has to be shut off._ Mason's mind was racing as the SuperHumans took Amelia and Oliver behind their backs. Joseph threw some SuperHuman unluxurious handcuffs around Amelia, and Mason motioned for the SuperHumans to give Oliver to him. Mason held Oliver tight, mercifully covering his eyes from the terrors that were happening. While the horrors were happening, Mason whispered reassuring words into poor Oliver's ears. Mason hated the Redirection process, but it was necessary, and Mason knew that. Iris had drilled it into Mason since the day Mason became chief.

Once it was all over, Mason sadly turned to Oliver. "Don't listen to her, she doesn't know what she's talking about." Mason tried, and something told him he was talking to both Oliver and himself. Oliver was crying now, and he gave a shout of fury and loss. Mason could almost see the emotional blades digging into Oliver's chest. "Hey there," Mason said, hurriedly getting the young man to a bench in the hallway. Mason sat Oliver down. "You need to get her words out of your head," Mason said, now with more purpose in his tone. "They're POISON, Oliver. POISON." Mason _needed_ for Oliver not to pick up on the same ideologies as Amelia. Mason did not like the idea of having to Redirect Oliver.

"ALL SHE WANTED IS TO SEE THE WORLD!" Oliver shouted. "AND YOU TOOK THAT AWAY FROM HER!" Now Mason feared he might be too late to save Oliver. Mason's only choice was to kill those thoughts and put Oliver on a happier trail.

"She wanted to run away. She wouldn't know what to do once she was out there. She's just being rebellious, Oliver. Don't let it contaminate you too." Mason said, again, making this point to himself as well as Oliver.

"Yeah?!" Oliver said, tears still in his eyes, and it looked like he didn't even know it. "What are you gonna do to her?!"

"We're gonna fix her. Being rebellious is a neural process, so we just fix that. It only takes a minute. She'll be fine." Mason said to himself. He said to Oliver. Mason didn't know who he was talking to at this point. Instead of thinking about that, Mason realized he probably just ruined any chance of Oliver trusting him in the future. _He doesn't understand how lucky he is to be able to have intrigued me, and talked to Amelia as long as he did._ Mason leaned over and pointed through the doorway to the camera he'd been watching them from. "You're lucky it was me that saw you two," Mason whispered. _And not Iris._ Mason couldn't bear this situation anymore, so he turned and quickly exited the hallway, leaving Oliver sitting on the bench. When Mason walked back into his office, Iris was there waiting for him.

"Good work, Mason." She said. "Now I know I can trust you with this job."

"Oh… yeah, thanks, Iris." Mason replied.

"You're unlucky that you had to deal with this. It doesn't happen that often, as you know." Iris said. "But, you're also lucky because now you've earned more of my trust." She slowly walked past Mason and out of his office. Mason stared after her. _What if Oliver isn't lucky? What if I've hurt him, by letting him stay with Amelia, he got more attached to her?_ Mason shook his head. _No, no. She'll still be able to have these conversations with Oliver again, just without the rebellious, running away part. Right?_

 _Right?_


	9. Chapter 8- You Can Trust Him

**Person: per-son**

 _ **Noun**_

 **A human or dragon being regarded as an individual.**

"I'm going to have to let you go now. I'm sorry." Yuma the SandWing's employer said to him. "There's just no other way."

"No!" Yuma yelled back at him. "You know how long it took me to find this job! I'll never get another one!"

"Listen, I don't feel good about this, but I just _have_ to fire you," Mr. Ross said.

Mr. Ross was the manager of a construction company, building a new tower on the outskirts of Boston. Yuma had finally landed this job a year and a half ago, and now he was being fired.

"You don't _have_ to do anything!" Yuma said.

"The higher-ups told me I have to let someone go, and that person has to be you," Mr. Ross said.

With a growl and a claw mark to the ground, Yuma left, making sure that his barbed tail swung dangerously close to Mr. Ross' chest. Yuma looked back, to see the frightened expression on Mr. Ross' face after this, and then he threw down his construction helmet and took off flying.

Yuma flew closer to the heart of the city. An entire road had been closed off after there was some explosions set-off in anti-dragon shops. A real tragedy, sure, but somehow Yuma was glad they were anti-dragon shops. If he could choose anywhere to blow up in the city, It would be there, a place that hated Yuma for no reason that Yuma could control. So Yuma hated them back.

Eventually, Yuma reached his apartment building, unlocked the window and flew in. It was the same small, cluttered living space he always returned home to, but today Yuma was sadder than ever. Yuma threw himself down into his chair after closing and locking the window, and he turned on the television. Yuma remembered to pick up his clipboard labeled "Possible Job Openings", and he crossed off Wellington Construction.

"What'll it be next? A new job, or homelessness, I guess." Yuma said to nobody. He leaned back in his chair, letting the hours tick by. A rainstorm picked up, pattering against the window of Yuma's apartment. The water blurred the crescent moon and the lights from the buildings outside. Yuma gradually let the sound of the rain drift him off into a light sleep. He started having a dream, where he was walking down the street. He saw Mr. Ross and some other management figures from Wellington Construction. Yuma walked up and slashed Mr. Ross' throat, and continued to gruesomely murder all the rest of the people there. It wasn't exactly a nightmare, it didn't scare Yuma at all. It was just a regular dream, with an exceptionally dark turn near the end. Eventually, just as Yuma started to plummet into a deeper sleep, he was woken up by the sound of claws tapping at his window. Yuma jolted up out of his chair and raced to the window, where he saw a dragon perched onto the balcony.

Yuma had been pretty much everywhere, seen every type of person or dragon ever. But this dragon was new. He was completely black, with the raindrops blurring light reflecting off of some shiny silver scales. The dragon knocked again and said

"Open it a crack, just so I can talk to you."

Yuma cautiously unlocked it and then held it tight. He opened it a couple inches, then locked it again.

"Perfect." The dragon said. "Now, Yuma, I would like to-"

"How?" Yuma said.

"I know your name because I read your mind. I read it a while ago, actually, but I came back because it's a very _interesting_ mind. I know you're gonna doubt me, so I'll tell you that you are currently thinking 'This dragon is full of shit. WHAT? This is freaking me out!'"

Yuma stumbled back after the dragon echoed all of Yuma's thoughts. Yuma collected himself as the dragon chuckled.

"Alright, I'll stop." He said with a grin. "Oh, and I revealed this to you because I gain nothing from hiding it, and it really just makes life easier if you know."

"What are you here for?!" Yuma demanded, half convinced he was still dreaming.

"So we could meet each other." The dragon said. "My name is Moonfall, and your name is Yuma. You just got fired from your job in a totally unfair way. They only chose you because you're a _dragon,_ not because you work any worse than the others."

Yuma leaned in. _What's this guy saying?_

"I'm saying we need to change things, and I think you're the perfect person for the job," Moonfall said. "You've experienced firsthand the terrible lives dragons have to live through, who is better than you to help make a change? You certainly have the heart and ability for it."

"How can I trust you? You just show up to my house, read my mind, and ask me to change the world?"

"We're not changing the world yet, friend. And you can trust me because you know…" Moonfall started, and then got as close as he could to the window. "… that everything I'm saying is true."

 _He's right. It IS true._

"Listen." The dragon continued. "You're at a crossroads in your life right now. You could either keep going on with this process, where you keep a job for a while, before they cast you out again, leaving you back on the streets, and to this disgusting apartment, or, I could grant you security, a home, friends, and you could change the parts of life you hate so much!"

Yuma shook his head. "You're getting in my brain. PROVE it to me that you can grant me these things!"

The dragon looked at Yuma and then gazed up into the sky. Suddenly, miraculously, they were in an underground shelter. There were many other dragons there, and many of them smiled up at Moonfall.

"Don't worry, we'll be moving out of here very, very soon," Moonfall said casually, especially considering what just happened.

"HOW DID WE GET HERE?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Yuma asked, and looked around him in a frenzy.

"You asked for me to prove it. This is where you can stay. It's nice and cozy, you have people to trust here, and everything can be granted to you…" The dragon snapped his fingers, producing a fruit basket. "… just like that." He finished. Moonfall handed the fruit basket to Yuma.

"Why don't you just solve all the world's problems instantly?" Yuma asked, and he snapped his fingers. "Just like that?"

"My powers aren't _limitless!"_ Moonfall said. "Besides, it takes more than one person for a revolution to work, and stick around. I would get overthrown or killed immediately!"

"So… what exactly _are_ the limits of your… 'powers?'" Yuma asked.

Moonfall chuckled. "Ah, I can't answer that question, I'm afraid. Not yet."

Yuma looked around the room. Moonfall reached out his claw.

"Well?" he asked. "What will it be? Stick to your old, miserable life, or change the lives of others for the better?"

Yuma started nodding his head, and then he met Moonfall's talons with his. "Looks to me like I'm staying."

"Brilliant," Moonfall said, a grin cutting through his face.


	10. Chapter 9- Awakening

It shook Oliver. Right to his core, to his bones, to his heart. Oliver had gone down a path. Something told him he would never be the SuperHuman who lives out his whole life, stopping crimes, solving mysteries and following orders. His life was going to be different. That didn't necessarily mean better than that. Maybe it'd be a better life, a more relaxed life if he did everything he was supposed to, and became just like Joseph. Maybe he'd even meet Amelia again, and she'd be okay, just not rebellious like Mason said. Maybe she'd still be the same.

Oliver couldn't sleep. He was just thinking, very forcefully, tossing and turning all throughout the night. The static came back, with flickers. No images came this time, just thoughts. Lots of them.

 _No, she won't be the same. Mason just wants to get inside my head. Maybe Amelia's rebellion and her interest in dragons are what made her unique and interesting. Take that away, and she's no different from any of the other SuperHumans!_

 _ **I shouldn't be so negative! Everything will be fine. I was only born recently, what do I know? I should trust my superiors.**_

 _Nothing about this can be right! How can this be okay? She's gone now._

 _ **I'm not thinking straight. I should listen to the little voice in my head, and just keep going on with life. Keep living it, it'll all be fine. Bad things happen, and then they leave your life. Amelia will be back, they didn't kill her.**_

 _The future could hold so much more of this! What happens if_ I _get redirected? Then Mason's hate of dragons could pass on to me. I can't let that happen._

 _ **I'm being insane. She was just a small blip in my life. If I kill the rebellious thoughts before they grow, I won't have to be redirected. I need to remember that I'm "an exceptional specimen." I'm not sure what that means, but I'll ask. It must be good. I can't soil that with my rebellious thoughts.**_

…

 _Joseph took Amelia to the redirection room. Actually, every SuperHuman in between me and her were the ones who took her. All of them seemed to agree dragons are inferior. However, one SuperHuman didn't come. It was the one who said that nobody really knows if dragons are inferior or something like that._

 _Only SuperHumans who have seen the redirection process would be allowed to do it, right?_

The static kept growing in Oliver's mind. It was enveloping him, consuming his conscience.

 _The SuperHumans who have been redirected were boring, dull, and thought dragons were inferior. The one who hadn't been chuckled, he LAUGHED and said nobody knew._

 _The redirection process is more than it seems, isn't it?_

 _Yes._

 _ **No! This is crazy! What am I, one of those conspiracy people who are always talking about some dumb lizard people? No. I'm beyond them.**_

 _But it makes so much sense! YES. This has to be the answer! That's how The OverLooker can spread her anti-dragon views!_

 _ **QUIET! TRUST YOUR AUTHORITIES, OLIVER!**_

" _Remember what I said." I can't let what used to be Amelia die in vain. I can't let her dreams get crushed by the system._

 _ **THIS IS NONSENSE! YOU ARE A SUPERHUMAN! YOU ARE THE MOST ADVANCED LIFE FORM ON EARTH! YOU ARE ABOVE THIS! It's just some kind of human coping mechanism. You need to ignore it and carry on with your JOB.**_

Oliver spun in his bed, clenching his eyes, his muscles tight. The static kept growing, eating his entire being, his soul.

 _No._

 _This is wrong._

The static had consumed him entirely, and now, there was no inner voice telling him he was wrong, that he should be obedient, and not think for himself.

 _If I'm wrong, then oh well. There isn't much for me to live for here, in this job. In this life._

 _I'm not Joseph or Mason. I'm not content with this life, and I will not let them "redirect" me. Whatever it is they're doing, it is horrible, and most likely illegal. But the police won't listen to me, and then they'll find me and redirect me._

 _I will not let Amelia's mind die in vain._

 _-/-_

Oliver turned on his computer and searched the internet for 'Anti-Dragon associations.' There were many results, news stories, home pages of groups, books, ads, and much, much more. Oliver opened an Online Encyclopedia page on 'Dragonist Groups and Associations.' On the web-page, there was information on the roots of dragonism, dragonist groups, it's connections to things like religion, it's prevalence in society, and there had to be 30 more articles about it. Oliver learned that the group called Suprema had the largest following. It was a zealous Catholic/Christian group who believed dragons are a spawn of the Anti-Christ. _That's ridiculous. I'm glad most people of that faith seem to disagree._

Oliver kept reading on about Suprema, and about how the group of dragons called Basilisk constantly butted heads with this organization, however, Basilisk never struck violently at Suprema. Good for them. Oliver continued reading up about dragonism until eventually, he saw Mason walking up to him from his office.

"Oliver," He said seriously. "Can I speak with you in my office?"

Oliver knew what this was going to be about. Of course, someone would be seeing what he's looking at on his computer. If they keep tabs on the entire building through cameras, wouldn't it make sense that they watch people screens?

Oliver stepped into Mason's office, and Mason sat down at his desk. Before Mason could open with a line, Oliver figured he'd beat him too it, and catch the chief off guard.

"I was researching a group that the Red-Suits might be opposing," Oliver said. Right according to plan, Mason double took.

"Right. Well, make sure not to get lost in-" Mason started, but Oliver interrupted him.

"If I can learn about their enemies, I may be able to identify the group, and find where or how they might strike next," Oliver said.

Mason sat back in his seat. "and?" he asked.

 _I got him. I brought Mason to my end of the conversation before he could even start to scold me._

"I know it isn't Basilisk. They never violently attack, they always protest." Oliver said. "A violent attack would betray their patterns, and it isn't safe to assume they changed, rather than suspect a more violent group is to blame."

"That makes sense," Mason said. "So, you have all the information you need about Dragonist Groups and Associations?"

"No. I should spend more time on the page." Oliver said.

Mason stood up from his chair.

"Oliver, I need you to get back to directly working on a case, not catching up on your reading."

"But I need to learn more information." Oliver persisted.

"Oliver…" Mason said with a growl. "Please. Stop. I really _want_ you to stop. Besides, wouldn't you need to learn more about groups _opposing_ dragonism?"

Oliver narrowed his eyes at Mason. "I guess you're right."

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Oliver. _Mason probably really doesn't want me to get redirected. Wouldn't it shine poorly on him?_

" _I really want you to stop."_

Oliver spun back towards Mason right before he left.

"Where's Amelia? Shouldn't the redirection process be over by now?"

"It was… a little hard with her." Mason said slowly.

"Hard? In what way? Was there just a lot to… redirect?" Oliver asked, making sure Mason understood any implications.

"No!" Mason said quickly. "We just… had to repair the machine."

"Oh really?" Oliver asked. "What broke?" _There's a machine?_

"Inner mechanical stuff," Mason said. "Not exactly my expertise. Amelia will be back soon."

For some strange reason, Oliver just did not find that very reassuring.

"Oliver, if you would like to research these things, do so on your own time. For now, focus on work." Mason said. "We really can't have another brutal attack like the last one. Go now."

Oliver quietly growled within his throat and turned toward the door. In the corner of the window to Mason's office, Oliver saw movement from the corner of his eye. He turned toward it but didn't see anything. Oliver defiantly stepped out the door and walked back to his desk.

Mason sat back down at his desk and sighed. _What am I going to do? If Iris heard any of this, Oliver would be immediately redirected and I might lose my job. Two SuperHumans in need of redirection in such a short amount of time?_

 _This is wrong, but I have to do this._

 _Sorry, Iris._

Mason saw the new recruit, Daniel, walk by. _He's a little strange, that one. But he's definitely not rebellious. At least, I don't think so. And if he is rebellious, he isn't acting on it, so it wouldn't matter for now._ Mason sighed again and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

 _When and how is this all going to come to come crashing down?_


	11. Chapter 10- Conditions

**You cannot believe how excited I am to release this chapter.**

Wolf, Sedge, Harpoon, and Atlantic arrived at Copley Square, where St. James met Clarendon, the address from the card that had been waiting for them outside of their hideout. Reluctantly, Sedge had complied and came here with three others. Wolf was glad he was included because he had a sneaking suspicion he knew who this might be.

"I don't see anyone." Harpoon said.

"He probably hasn't shown up yet," Atlantic replied.

Sedge stepped forward, carefully. "Remember to be ready. This could be very bad, or very good. It doesn't look like there is any in-between." He said.

Once all of them had stepped there, right on the corner of the two popular streets, they got sucked down through the ground. Wolf braced himself for impact, or pain, or any kind of reaction to such a thing, but nothing happened. Instead, the four dragons were in a large, empty room. It was all concrete, with absolutely nothing in it. No doors, no windows, nothing.

"What the?!" Harpoon said, and Sedge readied himself.

"I don't know what just happened, but be ready." The large MudWing said. "I'm not having any more of my friends die."

"Boys, boys, relax. Nobody's going to harm you." Said a voice from behind them. Wolf spun around and saw him.

The black dragon.

From the night Lilypad and Tide died.

From the night the soldiers were blown up.

Wolf gasped. "This is him! This is the dragon!" He said to Sedge, but Sedge said nothing. He didn't even move. Upon further examination, he wasn't even blinking. None of them were. Wolf kept moving around, trying to get their attention.

"Harpoon? Hello?! What is happening?! Are you guys okay?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Wolf was frantically waving his talons in front of their eyes, but he got no reaction. Wolf turned to the black dragon. He was still moving, sitting down in… a chair? Where had that come from?

"What is happening?!" Wolf pleaded to the dragon.

"They're okay, don't worry." The dragon said. "They can't see either of us moving. Time itself is… currently inactive."

"How?!" Wolf asked.

"I stopped it." The dragon said simply.

"But HOW?!" Wolf asked again. _Am I dreaming? I'm so confused. What is going on?_

"No, you aren't dreaming." The dragon said. "And yes, I read your mind. I can do that. Ugh, I'm so tired of having to constantly explain it."

"Who are you and WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Wolf asked, panicking.

"My name is Moonfall. Moonfall the NightWing. I have the power to read minds, and I occasionally get visions of the future." The dragon said.

"NightWing?" Wolf asked. "And what now?"

"NightWing. The tribe of black-scaled dragons that aren't really around anymore. In fact, I'm the last one." Moonfall said.

"What happened?" Wolf asked.

"Short answer is war happened," Moonfall said. "There is a whole lot more to it than that, but that is a story for another day."

"Okay… how can you do this stuff?" Wolf asked, still convinced none of this is real.

"Oh, it's real alright." Moonfall said. "and NightWings have these powers. Considering, of course, they're born under the moon's light."

"So, you're the last dragon left from a tribe of dragons with supernatural abilities?" Wolf asked, clarifying the insane sentence.

"Correct," Moonfall said. "And it's not supernatural. It's entirely natural, just advanced. But that's not where it ends. I'm also the last being alive with a… certain gift."

"And that is?" Wolf asked.

"It was called Animus Magic when it existed," Moonfall said. "Now, I'm the only dragon with it, and the only one who _can_ have it."

"What?!" Wolf asked. "Magic?! Okay, I don't believe thi-" Suddenly, Wolf was thrown aside by nothing at all. An apple appeared in front of him, and then that apple turned into a banana. Then, the banana peeled itself, and a squirrel ran out of the peel.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Wolf asked.

"I demonstrated my powers," Moonfall said. "But enough about all of this, I need to talk to you."

Wolf was shot into the center of the room, in a chair, facing Moonfall, in his chair.

"You and the rest of Basilisk want to stop a Suprema rally coming up," Moonfall said. "I respect that, and wish to help you."

"How?" Wolf said, still suspicious of literally everything and anything happening.

"With my magic, of course!" Moonfall said. "I can make everything go right. None of you will have to do any planning at all, I can do all of it in a second, and you will succeed in stopping the rally."

Wolf narrowed his eyes at the dragon.

"But, there is one condition." Moonfall continued. "You need to name a human. Any human in any human at all. And that human will die."

"WHAT?!" Wolf asked. "WHY WOULD I-"

"Think." Moonfall interrupted. "Think of all the horrible human beings who have committed horrible crimes. They've done horrible things, Wolf."

Wolf was quiet now. He had to think. _Wait, no I don't. Killing is wrong._

Moonfall stood up from his chair and started pacing around Wolf. "Killing is wrong, yes, but sometimes killing is crucial. Sometimes you _have_ to kill someone." He said. "Especially when the world becomes a better place without them in it."

Wolf silently started thinking. "But I still don't know if your powers are really real or not." He said.

"If they aren't, then the human won't die. Even if you truly believe my powers aren't real, I'm still helping you." Moonfall said, behind Wolf now.

 _That's a good point. If the powers aren't real, then it actually helps me, because then nobody dies._

"Why do you want to kill a human?" Wolf asked Moonfall.

"I'm trusting you to kill a bad one," Moonfall replied. "A despicable one. The kind of one who would command a bunch of people to blow themselves up, and kill some innocent soldiers."

"Johnathan Craney," Wolf said under his breath.

"That's right!" Moonfall said. "He's a despicable person, the kind of person who kills without remorse. You saw what he did down the street."

"If you know who's doing this, why don't you report it to the police or the SuperHumans?" Wolf asked Moonfall.

"Why waste their time when I can do it instantly without ever having to even lift a finger?" Moonfall asked.

"Why don't you?" Wolf asked. "Why do you need me to chose him?"

"So that I can teach you," Moonfall said. "Think of this as a kind of exam, but I'm giving you all the answers."

"What kind of EXAM is this?" Wolf asked.

"A morality one," Moonfall answered simply. "Now think."

So Wolf thought. Killing Johnathan Craney and stopping any further attacks, as well as assuring everything goes well stopping the rally? And even if the magic isn't real, which is probably is, considering everything Wolf has been seeing, then there aren't any bad consequences.

Moonfall sat back down in his chair and leaned in close to Wolf.

"She would want you to do it." He whispered in his ear. "Lilypad. She would be able to make this choice in a heartbeat."

Moonfall was right. Wolf could almost see Lilypad in front of him, leaving Tide and Wolf's doubts behind, and going forward to make this choice.

"Get out of my head," Wolf said slowly to Moonfall.

"Okay, okay," Moonfall said. "I just thought that you might want to hear your honored friends' probable opinion on the matter."

Wolf put his head down into his talons, rubbing his forehead.

"I must say, Wolf. You are quite the challenger." Moonfall said after a few moments of silence. "Your mind is complicated, hard to read. Even if NightWings _were_ still everywhere, it would be hard for them to read you, understand you, or manipulate you. You are very hard to crack."

Wolf kept thinking. _You should do it for Lilypad. But Lilypad wasn't always right! Just because she would do it, and do it quickly, doesn't mean it's the right choice._

"Nobody else has to know. I'll just tell Sedge and the others that I'll help them. This can be our little secret." Moonfall said reasonably.

"OKAY!" Wolf said. "I choose Johnathan Craney."

A smile crept across Moonfall's face. "I knew you'd make the right choice." He said, then closed his eyes for a moment. "It is done." He said, opening his eyes. Suddenly, Wolf was back exactly where he was when all the others froze, and the chairs were gone. Moonfall was back into the same position as before as well.

Sedge reeled around to face Moonfall. "Who are you?" Sedge asked menacingly, but Moonfall just smiled. "I'm your new ally. I respect your cause and plan, and I _assure_ you, everything will go right. My dragons and I will flood their rally and systematically move them out of their little church and onto the street. From there, we'll just spread them out. No violence."

"How can I trust you?" Sedge asked.

"You'll find that I am… very trustworthy, ." Moonfall said and made eye contact with Wolf.

"What 'dragons?'" Sedge asked, looking around. "Nobody else is here. AND HOW DID YOU KNOW MY NAME?!"

Moonfall snapped, and a door that seamlessly blended into the wall opened, and tons of dragons of all tribes, shapes, and sizes flooded out crowding the room.

"You have my word!" Moonfall called among the crowd. "I'll check back in later, I promise!" Moonfall looked back to Wolf, winked, then disappeared into the crowd.

The tons of dragons filled the room, and the 4 Basilisk-members were suddenly pulled right back out of the room and left standing on the corner between St. James and Clarendon.

"I told you," Wolf said to Sedge. "He knows everything." Sedge grunted, and lead them all back to the Basilisk hideout in silence.

Wolf, of course, still had lots and lots of doubts, but this dragon obviously had quite the following. They wouldn't all trust him if he was a lying snake, would he? Besides, Wolf is hard to manipulate, right?

Everything would be fine.

It would be.

-/-

Wolf and the others arrived back at Basilisk. Waiting for them there was a large box and 5 suitcases. Amazon grabbed one and ran up to Sedge.

"Sedge!" He cried, racing up to him. Amazon opened the suitcase, and inside was filled to the brim with stacks of hundred dollar bills.

Sedge, Atlantic, Harpoon, and Wolf all gawked.

"All of 5 of them are filled," Amazon said.

"What's in the big box?" Sedge asked.

"A large flat screen TV," Amazon said.

"Who delivered this stuff?" Sedge asked.

"Nobody knows," Amazon said. "It all just showed up right outside the vault door."

Wolf has a suspicion he knew where this all came from.

 _Moonfall is legitimately helping us out. It seems we've really found an ally._

 _He might just be the key to victory. He might be what saves us. He might be the dragon that brings peace to the world, and equality to dragons._

Wolf figured out the black and purple dragons on the cave murals must've been NightWings. But what Wolf still didn't understand were the orange and red dragons. They looked different from all the others, including the black and purple dragons. So what were they? Another tribe lost to history? How did entire tribes get erased? How did Moonfall survive? Was Moonfall alive during the war? Why didn't he appear older? Wolf's mind buzzed with confusion. He still half expected to suddenly wake up, and realize it was all a dream.

Yes, all a dream. From the explosions in the military base where he was stealing bread, all the way till now, where a strange magic dragon is supplying Basilisk with thousands of dollars. Soon he would be woken up by Tide and Lilypad, Lilypad complaining about wanting breakfast and Tide explaining some kind of math to Wolf. They would sit down and eat, then they would read or play, depending on whether or not they got a new book. Sedge might call a whole-Basilisk meeting, and he, Harpoon, Atlantic and Amazon would explain some kind of fund-raiser or update everyone on current events. Then, they would eat again. Lilypad would go on her nightly fly. Tide would reread the same books over and over again. Wolf would sit nearby, always against the wall, daydreaming.

Wolf didn't mind doing nothing at all. The truth was, Wolf wasn't a very intelligent dragon, there wasn't much going on in his head constantly like in Tide's, and he didn't dream of the future and all the possibilities like Lilypad. Lilypad would claim that she would be the first dragon president and the third female. She would talk about how nice her house was, how much she always had to eat, and how she would have seven dogs and they would all play together, and she would take all of them on walks every hour.

That seemed impossible to Wolf. Wolf definitely wasn't intelligent or clever, but at least he was realistic. He knew that could never happen for any of them, right down to the dogs. No dragons ever owned pets. 'Why would an animal keep another animal as a pet?' They would ask. Wolf didn't really care. Wolf didn't know what he would do with a dog or a cat. They wouldn't help him in any way, they would just be another mouth to feed.

 _But now, there is hope in my life with Moonfall. Maybe now, I can start thinking about stuff like that. Most people wouldn't have to think about how feeding their pet makes them a burden, they love their pets unconditionally._

 _Do their pets love them back?_

 _Surely not, they keep them as prisoners._

 _But can an animal comprehend prison? Is getting food daily on time enough to make life good enough for them? Are they happy being a prisoner to the humans?_

 _I killed a man today._

Wolf had never thought too hard about that. He knew that Johnathan Craney was a horrible man, and him being off the planet would keep many more people on it.

 _Is the blood on my talons or Moonfall's?_

 _Moonfall was the one that killed him but on my command. But Moonfall gave me the opportunity, informed me of the man, and persuaded me._

 _But I said the name._

 _Am I a fool for listening to Moonfall, or a hero?_


	12. Chapter 11- Escape

**Nobody knew it yet, but all the pieces were starting to fall into place.**

Mason had joined Oliver during the last few missions. That had made life a bit difficult for both of them, but Oliver was glad Mason started now because he wouldn't be able to do it forever. Eventually, Mason would give up, and eventually, Oliver could go on a mission on his own. Oliver figured they would become confident enough to let Oliver go alone one day, and on that day, Oliver would never return.

But for now, the two were on a mission. A bank robbery was in progress, and they called in the SuperHumans, so Mason and Oliver were on their way. Mason pulled into the front of the large building alongside some police cars.

Mason and Oliver stepped out, straightening their ties and clothes. A police officer walked up to Mason.

"They've got every single point of entry covered. There is no way we can get in." The officer said.

"Any plans?" Mason asked.

"Not yet." The officer confessed.

"Red Suits?" Oliver asked.

"No." The officer replied. "Just a gang of ordinary criminals."

Mason scanned the area. "How many outside of the front door?" He asked.

"three." The officer told him. "Only two at the back."

Mason started forming a strategy in his head. "I'll be at the front. Oliver, you take the back. We'll sandwich them."

Without saying anything, Oliver ran to the other side of the building.

Mason slowly turned the door handle, then burst into the room at full speed. He charged one man before they could react, and shot the other two, only shooting once with each pistol. All three criminals were already down. Mason signaled for the police officers to move in behind him.

Mason turned toward the big metal doors leading to the main room of the bank. He opened it slightly, then threw a grenade over it, through the crack. Mason used it as cover to enter with three smoke bombs he dropped beside him. He and the police officers moved in. The smoke grenades went off, and Mason dashed into the very center of the giant cloud of smoke. He could hear the footsteps of someone directly to his left, so he shot in that direction. He heard another person react to the bullet, so he shot there, too. Mason jumped out of the smoke and turned around, analyzing the room and searching for where more armed robbers could be hiding. He could see the civilians hiding under tables, motion sensor bombs sitting on the surface of the tables, ready to go off if any of them tried to escape. _That's a very clever trick. Nobody's ever used that before, in my experience, anyway._ The smoke began to clear, and Mason saw the bodies of the people he'd shot. The police officers rushed to the wall surrounding the door. Behind Mason, the door flung open, and multiple criminals ran out with weapons.

 _These aren't just regular old criminals, these guys are advanced. They must be some kind of gang, and a big one. That's odd, I haven't heard of any gangs powerful enough to do this._

"C'mon guys, I really don't think you can deal with me," Mason said reasonably.

"There's four of us, One of the robbers asked.

"Me." Mason put simply. "After all, I am the chief of the SuperHumans."

"All the more reason to kill you right here." Another robber said, moving to the front. "So we will."

"Oh well," Mason said. "Looks like there's no helping it."

The police officers ran out and promptly apprehended or killed the criminals promptly. The whole thing took about 10 seconds. A gunshot whizzed passed Mason's face, Mason barely avoiding it by leaning back just in time. The man ran away, down a hallway. Mason raced after him, turning the corner to see the man aiming his gun.

"I won't hesitate!" The man said. Mason scoffed. "You already are, right now." He said. There was a brief silence.

"Go ahead, shoot me then," Mason told the criminal. A look of fear crossed his face, then determination.

The man shot Mason directly in the chest. Mason didn't even budge. Of course, he had a bulletproof vest underneath his suit, and his SuperHuman abilities allowed him to withstand against the impact of the bullet, so to this poor criminal, it looks like the bullet he shot at Mason might as well have bounced off.

The man shot and shot at Mason, at one point hitting close enough to the shoulder to make Mason fall back a bit.

"We live in a different age now," Mason said. "Small criminal organizations like you just can't survive. It would take some kind of mastermind with ludicrous amounts of power to rob this huge bank successfully."

The criminal put his hands up and sat down on his knees resignedly, a deep look of anguish on his face. A police officer ran in behind Mason and cuffed him.

-/-

Oliver peeked through a small window on the back door. _Two. Just like they said._ Oliver turned the doorknob and walked into the room.

"I have a proposal," Oliver said with his hands up, slowly approaching the men.

"Which is?" One of the guys asked, keeping his weapon aimed at Oliver.

"I… think…" Oliver said slowly, shortening the distance between the two of them. "You should…"

Oliver got close enough. He punched the man in the forehead, his head whipping back and hitting the wall behind him. The second man shot at Oliver, who ducked beneath him

Oliver pointed the gun at the second man, now standing up. The two stood face to face with each other, a gun pointed to the other.

"Just how exactly do you think this'll go right for you?" Oliver asked.

The man raised his eyebrows. "You might just be surprised."

The guy fought extremely well. Every attack Oliver threw, the guy managed to miss, and he pretty much kept up with Oliver during their whole melee. At one point, the two of them clashed, and Oliver slid back.

"I gotta say," he said. "Out of all of my opponents I've ever faced, you are by far the most formidable."

"I figured as much." The guy said. "I've always wanted to test myself against a SuperHuman. I give you my utmost respect, even though you haven't trained to gain any of your abilities, I can see you're up to date with modern combat techniques. Things you'd only find by fighting people like us."

"I respect you too, for what it's worth," Oliver replied. "I don't intend to kill you after this."

"I'm afraid I can't say the same." The guy said.

Oliver took out his gun and shot at the man, who was able to move unpredictably enough to make even a SuperHuman miss. The two clashed again, Oliver ducking away, and attempting to strike the man, but he was already out of the way. Oliver shot his last shots at the man, which all missed as well. His gun was now out of ammo. The man leaped at Oliver, and actually managed to catch him in the gut with his knee. Oliver caught the man's leg before he landed and then dropped him. Oliver broke off the slide of his pistol as quickly as he could and snapped part off, making a sharp edge. When the man got close to Oliver again, Oliver managed to stab him in the gut with the broken piece of his gun.

The man fell to the floor, bleeding.

"Damn." He said through the pain. "A knife?" The man removed his hands from the wound and looked at it.

"A broken gun slide. Ha. That's new." The man took a big inhale.

Oliver helped him up and ran with the man on his back. He brought him back to the front of the building.

"This man needs medical help," Oliver said. A few medics from an ambulance waiting by the front put the man on a stretcher.

Oliver rushed back to get to the back again. He entered, ran through the small room he fought the robbers in, and entered the main room. Inside were civilians hiding under trapped tables, clearing smoke, and Mason. A small flicker of a fire sparked in Oliver when he saw him, the same as every time. Oliver hated this man now, and nothing would ever change that.

"I'll start securing hostages, you clear out the hallway," Mason said to Oliver, who reluctantly obliged.

Oliver reached the hallway, keeping an eye down it. _Any others in the building will be coming soon._ Suddenly, all the lights in the building shut off. Oliver quickly took out his flashlight, and shined it down the hallway, pistol drawn. Right in the center of the light was a man, with a gun to the head of a dragon. The dragon was tied up, and the man was carrying him down the hallway towards Oliver. Oliver's heart sank. _I can save him. Come on, I have to._ But no. The man didn't even give Oliver a chance. It was immediate. The man threw the body to the side like it didn't even matter. The gunshot ran through Oliver's ears. The thud of the dragon's body raced through his head. Oliver hadn't even realized he had moved before he was already in front of the man, putting all of his force into a punch, nothing held back. It made a blood curdling, bone-rattling crunch-squelch noise. The man let off kind of a growl and fell to the floor. _Should I kill him? After everything he did? He killed that dragon mercilessly and put all those innocent lives in danger._ Before Oliver could think of his next move, he heard a voice from behind him.

"Nice one, Oliver! You sure showed that guy!" Said Mason. He jogged over and cuffed the man, and led them out. Mason never noticed the body of the dragon.

-/-

Something had snapped inside of Oliver. Something inside his head was different now. Something was nagging at him, but he didn't know what. It was kind of an impatience, like an incredible wanting for something. It pulled at Oliver's brain.

"Are… you… okay?" Mason asked cautiously behind Oliver. Oliver was sitting at his desk, but staring straight ahead, zoned out, as he had been the whole way back from the bank.

 _There it is. That's what I want. I want to leave. I want this all to stop._

"Everything is fine, Mason. Thanks for asking. I'll get right back to work."

Mason nodded in agreement and then started to walk away, but then he stopped and turned around.

"You're awfully chipper, Oliver." He said with meaning.

"I'm just.. in a good mood," Oliver said. "I can't wait."

"For what?" Mason asked him.

Oliver stopped. "To get back to work." He finally said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the new recruit glance at him, and back away.

Oliver waited for Mason to go back into his office. It felt like the time never came, it was taking to long. It seemed to take years. The door finally closed, and Oliver stood up. He casually walked towards the front of the room. Mason's door opened behind him. Oliver didn't look back. He set his eyes on the front door of the SuperHuman Tower. Mason's footsteps grew louder and faster behind him. Oliver sped up himself, which turned into a jog, then into a run, then into a full sprint. Other SuperHumans flew by him, but there was only one thing left. The door. He was almost there. The handle was in his reach. He could make it out. He could do it.

Hands grabbed Oliver's shoulders, one on each. Hands grabbed his arms. It was Joseph and another SuperHuman, one of the ones who took Amelia. Mason was behind Oliver.

"I hoped it would never come to this." He said. "But she poisoned your mind. You aren't Oliver Brown anymore, you're Amelia's drone."

Oliver didn't say anything. _He's right. I'm not Oliver Brown anymore. But he's also wrong. I'm not a drone. I'm the opposite._

 _ **I'm free.**_

" _You are an exceptional specimen."_

" _I really want you to stop."_

Oliver drove his hands toward the ground, breaking through the grasp of both SuperHumans. He dove to the right and grabbed the unknown SuperHuman's head. He kicked the attacker's legs out from under him and drove his head into Joseph. Oliver knew what to do next. He rolled underneath the two entangled SuperHumans and was right in front of Mason. He punched Mason with full force before Mason could react. He grabbed his own pair of handcuffs and threw them around his arms. He picked Mason up by the handcuffs and threw him into Joseph and the other attacker. Oliver was grabbed in the back by more SuperHumans, both his wrists getting held back. Oliver was grabbed in the neck by Joseph, who gave him the most emotionless, inhuman gaze. Oliver kicked the man in the shins with his free legs and twisted out of the grips on his wrists. He held Josephs head in his hands, ready to break his neck.

"I'LL DO IT!" Oliver shouted, backing towards the wall, the SuperHumans taking out their guns now. Only a few working SuperHumans watched, one including the SuperHuman Oliver knew wasn't redirected.

The SuperHumans surrounded Oliver, and one freed Joseph. Oliver's enemies closed in. Oliver was being restrained in all places he could fight with. He was helpless. He was going to be redirected. It was all over. There was no saving him.

The unknown SuperHuman who had helped restrain Amelia, who was holding on to Oliver's right arm, was shot in the back of the head. His corpse fell down to the ground. Behind him was the new recruit, Daniel.

"Oliver, I was there." He said. "When Amelia got taken."

Oliver broke free, and he heard Daniel keep talking. "I eavesdropped on your conversation with Mason. I was wondering when you'd escape."

Oliver kept fighting back against the other SuperHumans alongside Daniel. Oliver kept slowly edging his way toward the door. He took a break in the fighting to use his pistol to shoot the door, making a small hole in it, but more importantly, alerting the near public. There was a brief pause in the fighting when Oliver did this and Joseph took this opportunity. He grabbed Daniel, dropped him to the floor and put his knee on him. He took out a pair of handcuffs and connected them around Daniel's hands, which were put behind his back. Oliver used this small break to shove past one of his attackers and right through the door to the SuperHuman building.

A wave of cold air hit him like a truck, but before Oliver could take in his surroundings, he sprinted over around the tower and started climbing the next building over.

 _None of them would dare come out here and pursue me, not if they think they can catch me. Everyone is watching._

Oliver took in a deep breath when he reached the top of the building. He saw everything on the streets now. He saw homeless people and dragons, sitting on the sidewalks. Distantly, he could see the harbor and the sea, huge boats pulling in. He saw humans and dragons, watching him and taking pictures. Oliver saw the city for what it was. Oliver saw life for what it was.

It was incredible. A new chapter to Oliver's story was beginning now. He had done what SuperHuman after SuperHuman has wanted to do. What Oliver was sure Joseph wanted to do, at one point, before he became redirected. See the world, unburdened. Mason was standing on the street staring at him.

 _I won. I beat him. One SuperHuman managed to slip through their fingers, and that SuperHuman won't just disappear._

 _He'll be back._

 _Oh, I'll be back._

-/-

Wolf frantically shook out both Lilypad's blanket. _No luck, not here either._ Wolf had been searching for Tide's old book about The Scorching War ever since he had visited the mural, and he still couldn't find it. _Where else would Tide have put it?! It HAS to be around here somewhere._

Wolf reluctantly asked Sedge.

"I know you held on to Lilypad's old journal, what about Tide's book, about the war?" He asked.

"Nope, I haven't seen it." Sedge told him. "Excuse me, I have to go start planning with the others. That weird dragon has really got everyone excited."

"Yeah," Wolf said. "Of course."

Defeated once more by the missing book, Wolf flumped down onto a chair, daydreaming. _If only I had listened more carefully when Tide was giving me spit facts about different locations and battles and stuff._ Wolf gazed at the large TV, a red breaking news alert floating through the screen.

Wolf was completely zoned out, not paying attention to the words the people on the screen were saying until the name 'Johnathan Craney' was uttered. Wolf jolted back to reality and started listening intently to the television.

"Local humanitarian Johnathan Craney was found dead in his residence earlier today. Cause of death is unknown." The anchor said.

 _No._

"This loss is especially tragic when taken into consideration of all the homeless he took care of. He ran the shelter on his own, and his abrupt passing will force it to close." She continued.

 _No way._

 _I killed him._

 _No, Moonfall did._

 _He tricked me._

 _But I fell for it so easily._

 _He told me who Johnathan Craney was that night. He was probably the one who caused those men to blow up and kill the soldiers. He tricked me into believing him._

The world was spinning. Wolf felt like throwing up. He couldn't focus on the TV anymore, or Sedge's words, or anything else.

 _A magic dragon from a lost tribe committed an act of terrorism and tricked me into trusting him so he could kill again._

Wolf fell from his seat, having fainted. He lay on the floor, surprised Basilisk members making sure he's okay. Behind them, the TV kept running, showing the body of Johnathan Craney, a man killed by animus magic. The TV shone on Sedge the MudWing, watching it, attempting to make a connection between it and the now unconscious Wolf. The light of a TV showing the same news story also shone on the scales of Moonfall the NightWing, sitting in his quarters drinking a cup of hot lemon tea. A smile cut through his face, as he excitedly tapped the arm of his chair. It was beginning.

 _Wolf knows now. But Sedge and the others are on my side. I wonder what path Wolf will take; does he reveal he caused the death of an innocent human, or does he let Basilisk slip into the talons of a dragon he does not trust?_

 _Dragons and humans are such interesting creatures. Not only have the seeds of chaos planted themselves in Basilisk without any of them knowing it, but now the public has been pushed that much farther. I wonder what the breaking point will be, and I wonder which will break first? The freedom fighters, or the free?_

 _Things are going to change._


	13. Chapter 12- Past

**If you have any thoughts, please leave a review. I want some feedback on my story, and while my traffic stats on it are very high, I don't have much to work off of based on what you, my readers want. Anyway, Begin Arc 2.**

They all passed him without a second glance. No eyes lingered. He was just another snowflake in a blizzard, just another grain of sand in a desert, just another rock in a pit of gravel. None of them had any idea that the dragon that would change history was walking past them. None of them knew that they were in the presence of the most powerful being in the history of the planet. None of them knew who they were walking past. One person, obviously drunk, even bumped into him and had the audacity to yell at him and even blame him for it.

Moonfall the NightWing casually walked down the sidewalk brushing past others. Cars stuck in traffic sat beside him. He passed a man on a bench. Everyone was in a hurry, bustling around, but not Moonfall. He was in no rush. He was currently in the shape of an IceWing, the body he liked calling Winter, named and designed after a valiant IceWing prince who helped stop the evil animus dragon that nearly took over the world. Of course, not this world. In this world Winter was just a season and the occasional IceWing name without any real weight to it.

For the longest time, Moonfall had gone exploring other worlds, but the one he liked the most was the one where humans had disappeared almost completely long ago, and dragons ruled the world. It was a mostly peaceful world, filled with heroes and legends and hope, even when times got rough. It was like a story for children.

Moonfall arrived at the park he loved. There were children, all of them human, running around and yelling. They were having so much fun. They ran in circles around a big playground structure, parents watching from nearby benches. One young girl rocked back and forth on a toy dinosaur, that demanded $1 for every ride. One child slid down the slide, and then stayed there at the bottom, grinning at his mother.

 _I enchant this bench to show me these children's parents' information._

In Moonfall's mind, a bunch of images of adults popped into his mind, along with their names.

 _That child's father works for a company that doesn't hire dragons. That child's parents are both anti-dragon. That child's mother is the perpetrator of a hate crime against dragons, for which she got off free due to a technicality._

The fire of hatred burned inside of Moonfall, rising. _I could kill them. Each and every single one of them. It would only take a thought. They deserve to die._

 _My emotions don't rule me, I do._

The fire was extinguished.

 _A human wouldn't be able to do that right there, would they?_

 _When a fire burns that high inside of a human, they act on it, and go on almost a drunken rage where they don't act like themselves._

 _But I am not a human, I am a dragon. I have the ability to control my fire._

 _A human would lash out, just like Oliver Brown did. Now that was an action based on an inner fire. I guess the dragon DNA within him hasn't really awoken yet, has it?_

 _Well, someone's gotta give it a wake-up call, don't they?_

 _I enchant myself to be at my headquarters._

Now, Moonfall was off of the park bench, and in his headquarters. He turned back into Moonfall, which felt nice after being Winter for so long.

Moonfall pushed through the wooden doors between his room and the large room, where most of his followers would gather. The big room was plain, empty and concrete, with no decorations, whereas his own room had maps, mostly of Pyrrhia, and a large wooden desk, along with the most advanced and efficient computer the world currently had to offer. This was entirely for entertainment value, as he did not need to use resources for information. His perfect animus magic gave him everything he needed.

Moonfall's entrance to the big room, which was filled with dragons of all colors silenced the audience. They were all patiently waiting for his big announcement. They were sure it was good news. It was always good news. They had never experienced bad news, because even when times were tough and things weren't going according to one of Moonfall's seemingly perfect plans, Moonfall knew how to turn it into good news.

Moonfall moved onto his stage, with his podium, looking down at all the faces, filled with anticipation. The light in their eyes could've lit the entire huge room. Moonfall made himself bigger and added an impossible fire to his eyes. He raised his fist with vigor.

"Oliver is free," Moonfall announced, which was met with incredibly applause and cheering. Moonfall was glad to see his newest member, Yuma, was joining them in their excitement. "And Basilisk seems to be accepting us. Now you all understand what comes next. Soon, we can move out of this boring dump, and we also get to meet new friends." Moonfall raised a glass that hadn't been in his hand until that very moment, and his audience raised their new glasses as well.

"TO THE FUTURE!" Moonfall toasted, which was met by applause, cheering, and sips from their newly filled glasses, each filled with their holder's absolute favorite drinks. Moonfall only ever used his magic when times were especially great, and this was absolutely one of those times.

Even after every incredible experience and victory, Moonfall had lived through during the past 50 years, there was still something especially exhilarating about this part of his job.

That night, Moonfall was relaxing in his quarters for what might be the final time. Moonfall would occasionally play video games on his computer, and put in no actual effort. He would whisper unencouraging words into his own ear, and make absolutely sure it was a grueling loss. Moonfall knew you had to lose to make the victories more exciting.

After the wonderful announcement, Moonfall quickly jumped back into his quarters. Moonfall wasn't a particular fan of crowds, he liked to avoid them as much as possible. He sat down in his large chair, it was made of dark wood with a nice red cushion. He looked up at the maps, newspaper clippings, and pages from history books. He closed his eyes. It still hurt. The pain.

 **A family of NightWings, dead on the floor.**

 **An IceWing dragonet.**

 **A woman with silver hair.**

 **A SkyWing, pinned against a cliff by a group of humans with guns.**

Moonfall snapped his talons, making a satisfying click noise. It shook off all the memories.

 _I need to remember them. They give me my resolve, and if I don't have my resolve, what am I?_

Moonfall sat there, with his head in his claws. His room was messy, covered with things reminding him of his past. The outer, large room was empty, except for the dragons. They stood around and socialized, dreaming of the future, but Moonfall could only dream of the past.


	14. Chapter 13- Movement

Wolf hadn't gotten over the horror that had happened to him. It stung Wolf's mind like a bee. Luckily, after a while, Wolf had been able to occupy himself from thinking about it too much. The dagger into his soul had started to fade. Wolf was again searching for Tide's book. He had seen it just before he left to steal the bread, right with Tide. _He couldn't have brought it with him on the mission, could he? It must have gotten lost in the funeral process or something, or I'm just being an idiot and can't find it._

"Wolf." Sedge called. "We're going to the Suprema rally in five minutes. Are you sure you aren't coming? I mean, it's guaranteed success." Sedge approached Wolf and stood in the doorway of his room. The huge MudWing took up the whole doorway, and Wolf was shrouded into his shadow.

"Right," Wolf said. "You don't need me. I'll stay here."

"It could be a learning experience for you." Sedge told Wolf.

"I'm not going." Wolf persisted. _I'm not gonna support that son of a bitch any longer._

Wolf grudgingly kept searching for Tide's book. There didn't seem to be any place in the world it could be, but Wolf had to keep searching to keep his mind busy.

"Wolf." Sedge said unexpectedly. "What's bothering you?"

"Nothing," Wolf said. "Why do you ask?"

"Wolf, ever since you've fainted that day, you've been distant." Sedge responded seriously. He stood straight, the very opposite of Wolf's lackadaisical slouch. "Don't try to deny it, it's obvious. At least for someone who knows you as well as I do."

"It's nothing," Wolf said. "Maybe it's just all the craziness lately." Sedge shrugged.

"Wolf, I get it. It's probably a mixture of change and mourning. I really think a victory could help you out of this rut."

"I'm fine, Sedge." Wolf still insisted. He turned back to the room, checking underneath his bed for Tide's book for the thousandth time. Sedge grunted, and turned and left. "Me and the others will be away. You'll be alone here for a little while, so don't do anything stupid."

A small smile attempted to cross Wolf's face at that remark, but it didn't succeed.

Sedge appeared back in front of Wolf's room. "Wolf, face your problems head-on, don't run away from them." He said wisely. "I hope you don't find Tide's book."

That struck Wolf. A light in his head flickered to life. When he turned to look back at Sedge, he was gone, having left.

 _He's right. I should stop distracting myself. I should figure just what's happening._ Wolf caught up to Sedge.

"Would it be okay if I left to go on a fly while you guys are gone?" Wolf asked.

"Sure." Sedge answered immediately. He turned and climbed up the hatch behind the others. He closed the hatch door and took off flying with the others. He was flying toward Suprema. He was flying toward victory.

-/-

Wolf walked down the street, down a sidewalk. There was snow slowly falling down to the cement sidewalk. Wolf stopped by a newspaper dispenser. He slid a quarter into the box, and it printed out a newspaper for him. The smell of the ink wafted upward. Wolf was lucky the air was cool because the newspaper was hot from the printer. Wolf quickly flipped through it to find anything on Johnathan Craney. Sure enough, there was a column on the murder. Wolf took off flying with the newspaper folded back up. The city was gorgeous today. The Millenium Tower was directly to Wolf's left, looming above the street. The John Hancock Tower, the Prudential Tower, the SpaceX Tower, and the SuperHuman Tower formed a kind of square around Wolf, one to each direction. It was great to be in the center of the city, and Wolf felt like he took it for granted often. Wolf took to the skies, soaring up high. He felt the cold winds whip through his wings. He flew steadily over a building when something caught his eye. A huge flurry of dragons, all flying up at Wolf's level. There were large dragons in the mix, some of them looking battle torn. At the very front of them, and the largest of them all was Moonfall the NightWing. He soared ahead of the others. Wolf was stunned, and he hovered in the air for a moment, watching them.

Unexpectedly, Moonfall whipped around midair to face Wolf.

"Ah, yes!" Moonfall called to his followers. The dragons all stopped and turned to face Wolf, snow slowly falling in the air between them.

"Let us all take a moment to thank the one who let this all happen!" Moonfall announced with showmanship. All the dragons in the sky started clapping vigorously, and Wolf wheeled around in the air to fly beneath them, to get by and return to the Basilisk hideout.

"Wonderful idea, Wolf!" Moonfall cried out to him. "Lead the way! I can't think of any better way to do it!"

Wolf turned worriedly. _Lead the way? Are they following me to the Basilisk hideout?... Is that where they were going in the first place?_

"Yes," Moonfall replied to Wolf's thoughts. "But you're a much better line leader than I. Afterall, our change of placement is all thanks to you."

"No!" Wolf shouted. "Don't give me credit for the disgusting thing you did!"

Moonfall chuckled to himself. "Don't be so modest Wolf. You're one of us now, and there's no way we'll ever stop treating you like one of our own."

Wolf couldn't believe it. He knew Moonfall was mocking him, but it was so effective. Moonfall's face turned from joking to serious in a heartbeat.

"Come on," Moonfall ordered his followers. "It's cold out. We need to go to our new home."

"No no no," Wolf said as sternly as he could to Moonfall. The dragon looked back at him with laughter in his eyes.

"Wolf, please. We need to go." He said.

"No! I won't let you!" Wolf shouted back at Moonfall. All the followers stared at Wolf, expressionless, then turned to their leader, waiting for his response. Moonfall waited a few moments dramatically.

"Wolf," He finally said. "There's nothing you can do. Just accept it. You can't stop us."

"But Sedge and the others may be able to," Wolf said menacingly. Moonfall laughed.

"Sedge and the others?" Moonfall said between laughs. "You mean the ones who trust me enough to go out and recklessly try to attempt to shut down a Suprema rally without any planning?" He calmed down a bit and saw Wolf's horrified expression. "Not to worry, everything will be a complete success. I'm not a dragon who lies without reason or kills without reason. I wouldn't send your friends to the death."

Wolf scoffed. "Without reason? What about Johnathan Craney?"

"Right." Moonfall concluded. "exactly like Craney."

"What did he do to 'deserve' to die?!" Wolf asked, flabbergasted by what Moonfall was saying.

"He helped keep other humans alive and in good spirits. Humans who are in a particular situation where they're easy to sway one way or another." Moonfall explained. "Just like Sedge and the others." He gestured to his followers and whispered to Wolf, "Just like all of them."

"Why would you tell me this stuff?" Wolf asked.

"Because I had to trick you in order to help the rest of Basilisk and get them on my side," Moonfall said. "I'm fine with sacrificing one pawn to get myself a queen."

Wolf was shocked. In a way, Moonfall had already won.

"That is correct," Moonfall said with glee. "Also, I like explaining stuff to people, and you're the perfect person for that."

Wolf was speechless. Without another word, he turned and flew away, not knowing where to go.

"I'll tell Sedge you went on a fly when they come back!" Moonfall called after him. Wolf heard him, but didn't register what he said, nor did he care. A few tears slowly crawled down his face. Wolf clutched the newspaper tightly, crying to himself as the snow landed gracefully on his face.


	15. Chapter 14- New World

**I re-wrote the "Welcome to the SuperHuman Program" intro. It was really bad, and now that I'm better at writing, I think it was time. Especially because the biggest drop-off of readers after a chapter was the intro, so it wasn't a very good hook. Hopefully, it's better now. I'm also planning on re-writing chapter 3 at some point before I re-write pretty much all of my early chapters.**

Oliver was sleeping in the middle of a dirty alley. He had chosen a spot under the fire escape to an apartment building on the left side of the alley. He had no blanket and had spent the night cold. He had finally fallen asleep when he got a kicked in the arm.

"Hey." A man's voice said.

Oliver stood up to face the man, who had rugged clothes and a beard. There were three other guys behind him.

"What do you have?" The man asked Oliver.

"Nothing," Oliver told them tiredly.

"Aw c'mon." Said one of the guys in the back, who had a bald head. "That's a nice suit. I'm sure you have something on you. A watch?" The man speaking walked over to Oliver and grabbed his wrist, pulling back his shirt sleeve. Oliver put up no fight. He let his arm go limp. There was no watch on Oliver's wrist.

"He's sleeping in the street. He's probably sold anything of value." The bearded man told his partner.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just gotta check." The bald man said. When he went to grab Oliver's other arm, Oliver fired an unexpected punch at the man's face, knocking him out. The men all laughed and hollered. One in the back took out a baseball bat. "One punch, not bad." He said. "You're a fighta. I like it." He moved in with the bat, and the three men assaulted Oliver.

First, Oliver ducked down low to avoid any blows to the head. He stood back up and grabbed the bat and made eye contact with the man wielding it. While maintaining eye contact, he grabbed the hand of the third man behind him, and twisted his fingers back, making a cracking sound. The man cursed and let go, standing back. That was enough of a distraction for Oliver to disarm the man with the bat and keep the wooden weapon to himself. He struck the man in the gut with the bat, and the bearded man threw a few punches at Oliver. Oliver dodged them all with ease, and then he twirled around the man and hit him in the spine with the bat. He proceeded to hit the bearded man, once in the back again, and once in the back of his left knee, bringing him to the floor. He threw the bat at its original owner and turned to punch the man with the broken fingers in the jaw. The attacker fell back and stayed down. Oliver turned to see the bat owner had his weapon back, and he charged Oliver, who promptly moved out of the way and slammed his head into the metal fire escape staircase, knocking him down.

"Damn." Said the bearded man, who was still lying on the floor. "Where'd you learn to fight? The Batcave?"

Oliver turned to the man. "I don't know what that means." He said with as much dignity as he could, and he took off running from the scene of the fight.

For the first time in his life, Oliver had reached the ocean. It was chilly and breezy, the air zipping past Oliver. But Oliver wasn't focused on the wind. He was staring out into the ocean. It stretched endlessly. He hadn't even noticed it stretched out of view, he was so focused on the constant motion and massive expanse of it. He was safe here. Mason and the others were far away, but they were looking for him. The boats slowly moved around the water, creaking. The water splashed against the wooden dock, and people buzzed by. It amazed Oliver that this incredible sight was normal for some people. They saw it all the time, every day. Oliver stayed on that dock, taking in the ocean, the city, and his freedom for what felt like five minutes, but soon it was dark. Night had befallen the city, and Oliver saw stars. He had only read about stars. Little glimmers of light, scattered throughout the night sky. They reminded him of the wings of the creepy black scaled dragon who had taunted Oliver. He had always imagined the stars as so much bigger and less plentiful. Nowhere on the internet did it describe the stars, because why would anyone assume somebody hasn't seen them?

Oliver had barely moved for the hours he spent on the dock, watching the waves and the cars. The world had so much movement in it all the time. The lights of the city rivaled the lights of the stars. He saw children playing on the beach, dancing around the water, their parents telling them to leave the water so they could go home. Everybody avoided Oliver. A quiet, melancholy man sitting on a dock all day. People averted their eyes when Oliver caught them watching, but Oliver knew they were always watching. Eyes always connected to things that stood out, like a black blot on a painting of a snowy mountain, or a small tree in an open field. The tallest building in a city. The moon in the night sky. It's something the brain always focuses on when looking at something, whether you concentrate on it or not. Oliver felt like that. He was always just _there,_ soaking in everyone else's peace and good day with his sadness and rebellious thoughts. To be honest, Oliver had no idea what to do now. He was free, but then what? He didn't have any money, any clothes, any food, anything. Sure, he had ripped out the SuperHuman logo from everything he owned, but he was a homeless man in a nice suit.

 _What about boxing? I'd kill at boxing. Literally, like I actually might kill someone so I probably shouldn't do that._ Oliver heard Amelia's laugh echo through his mind at that thought. He thought in a way to make her laugh now. He couldn't release the memory of the laugh. To think, for just a few hours, he was making someone happy, not just hurting people. Oliver heard heavy footsteps behind him. Oliver panicked. _It's Mason. He found me._ But whoever it was sat down right next to Oliver. Oliver never looked behind him to see the person, thinking it's just someone else who appreciates the ocean. Then, all of Oliver's fears were confirmed.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Mason said from behind Oliver, who shot up and looked with fear at Mason, who had also stood up. Oliver was cornered against the dock.

"What now, Oliver?" Mason asked. "Are you going to become a superhero, who fights crime at night and stops criminals in his own, chaotic way? What about food and water, Oliver? You need a job to survive, and nobody's gonna hire you like that."

Oliver let worry seep into his eyes. He knew Mason was confident in his persuasion abilities. He got so into character, his thoughts started betraying him. _Maybe he's right._

"We won't redirect you if you come back. We can pretend like none of this ever happened." Mason had a sympathetic smile on his face.

 _Everything can go back to normal… I'll have colleagues again, I can find a friend again, I can- wait. David killed a few guys. I'm totally gonna get redirected. There's no way this is true._

Oliver still let his face and posture say he was listening to Mason though.

"Maybe…" Oliver said, then promptly punched Mason in the jaw with as much strength as he could muster. Mason landed with such force, the wooden planks of the dock snapped and splintered. Mason laughed. "You really had me, Oliver." He said. "You haven't changed a bit. Just as analytical and sharp as ever."

Oliver leaped over Mason and took off running to the street, away from the beach. He blasted through puddles, getting bystanders soaked. He ran around a building and turned to see where Mason was. He was nowhere to be seen.

-/-

 **A week later.**

Oliver had taken refuge in an underground crime syndicate. He had inserted himself there, a group of criminals that stole and supported their little gang, the Machine. Anyone who opposed Oliver's stay would stand no chance. Every night, there would be fights in the middle of their hideout, which was an abandoned fallout shelter from the Scorching War. Those were all around the country, many still being discovered today. These people were lucky that they found it before anyone else. Oliver enjoyed this place. He hung in the back, not talking to anyone. There was an even mix of dragons and humans here, and Oliver was able to get a good taste of both worlds. Tonight was a special night. A contender was fighting to become champion. He was taking on a MudWing, the current champion. The man's name was Axel Gordon, and he was a large man with a bald head. He was covered in scratches and bruises, and he was barking like a dog. The fight was started by the leader of the gang, Barder Ramsey. Axel charged the MudWing, Dirt, and started throwing punches. Oliver leaned in in his back corner, watching the fight take place. Axel was going to lose. MudWings are good fighters, and this one was big. For every hit Axel landed, Dirt landed twice as many that were twice as effective. The walls of the fallout shelter were concrete and dirty. The floor was clean, but also concrete. The fight was encircled by a crowd. Oliver watched as the MudWing grabbed Axel by the arm and dropped him back down to the floor, knocking him unconscious. The crowd went wild cheering. Everybody chanted 'Dirt! Dirt! Dirt!' which Oliver chuckled at. He imagined a small child chanting that as he played in a pile of dirt.

"DIRT WINS!" Barder announced with his booming voice. "WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO CHALLENGE OUR CHAMPION?" The crowd went silent. One man, who Oliver had once had to push aside to earn a spot in the underground room, called out to Barder.

"What about this guy?!" He called out, pointing to Oliver. "This guy has some fight in 'em!"

Barder looked over at Oliver, who tried to stay inconspicuous, even as everybody looked at him. The man who brought attention to Oliver grabbed his arm and pulled him out into the open, and Barder strutted over to Oliver, his hands on the straps of a backpack he wore. Barder looked Oliver up and down slowly, then threw a punch at Oliver's face. Instinctively, Oliver caught it and threw two more extremely fast, catching Barder in the neck and gut. The brutish man stumbled back, then let out a pleased chuckle.

"Yes." He stated, in his surprisingly polite, deep voice. "You're going in the ring." He grabbed Oliver by the collar and pulled him into the circle in the center of the fallout shelter, which was drawn with duct tape. The audience's cheers clouded Oliver's hearing. He stared into Dirt's eyes, as the dragon growled with a smile. The dragon didn't analyze Oliver, he just stared at him tauntingly.

 _He's rather confident._ Oliver thought, making a mental list of different ways to get behind Dirt, which would allow Oliver to win extremely fast. Oliver had done plenty of research of dragons, so now he knew things about them that no other SuperHuman did, allowing him to make up his own moves, moves that were used exclusively to fight dragons. For instance, a large dragon, like Dirt, has a large wingspan, which means that attacking from the sides is generally a bad idea. Attacking from the front is easier because dragons have more vertical restraint in the movement of their arms. Dealing with fire is easy enough, because when you're fighting close to a dragon, then when they prepare a shot of fire or frostbreath, you can use that opportunity to fight back and stop them. The only thing you have to worry about is teeth, and Dirt was missing his left canine. Oliver also knew about weak points, like how every dragon has a weak spot on their tail, their eyes and tearing their wings was relatively easy.

Oliver stayed where he was, long enough to make Dirt think he would have to make the first move. Dirt started running towards Oliver, who then broke into a sprint, and punched Dirt in the face. The dragon reared back, preparing a flame. Oliver kicked out his left back leg, knocking the dragon down. The shot of fire went awry, almost hitting audience members, who howled in enjoyment and lack of awareness of the fire that almost killed them. Dirt swiped at Oliver with his claws, and Oliver slid underneath Dirt as he was getting up. Oliver popped back onto his feet and stomped on the weak spot on the dragon's tail, making Dirt roar in pain.

The dragon pulled back, straightening himself. He cracked his neck and stared at Oliver. Oliver backed up, his feet around a foot from the duct tape. Dirt surprised Oliver with a laugh.

"Look at this scrawny little man." Dirt said with a chuckle. "Using his fancy karate moves. How old are you? You look, what, early twenties?"

 _I don't know, a few months?_ "Sure," Oliver said. "Let's go with that."

Dirt scoffed. "You've got a lot of sass for a guy your size."

"You've got a lot of confidence for a dragon that got brought to the ground by a guy my size," Oliver said, attempting to invoke a reaction in Dirt. Dirt just laughed, and then he blasted another flame out of his mouth. This fireball was three-times the size of the last, and the audience ran out of the way, hollering. Oliver somehow still heard laughing and cheering, which amazed him.

Oliver charged Dirt again. He strafed to the left. He punched Dirt in the jaw, closing his mouth and stopping more fire from spitting out. He then grabbed onto his wing and hoisted himself onto the dragon, who shook furiously, trying to make Oliver fall. Oliver reached under the dragon's head, grabbed his neck, and flipped the dragon onto the floor. Oliver landed on Dirt's unconscious body, the crowd going wild around him. Oliver wiped a few drops of sweat from his brow and stepped off the dragon. Barder Ramsey approached Oliver laughing heartily and grabbed Oliver's arm, raising it up.

"WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION!" Barder boomed. Everybody cheered for Oliver, and he almost basked at the moment. However, Oliver didn't feel very victorious. He just completed a fight, the same way he would during a mission. Oliver understood that this wasn't a nearly everyday occurrence for most people, but why would this be entertaining? Oliver tried to tug his arm away from Barder, who looked down at Oliver. The giant of a man lowered his voice to a conversational volume, allowing his Romanian accent to be heard.

"You remind me of a MudWing I once knew. Very skilled, but reluctant to use his strength." Barder said, "A very brave and valiant dragon. I hope your paths cross someday."

"I'm not going to do this every day," Oliver said, asserting himself against the hulking man. "This- this fight is something I'm making a habit of."

"Oh yes," Barder said. "But now, you've established yourself." He gestured to the crowd of people, which was slowly dispersing. "You're a presence here now, whether you choose to stay here or not."

This slowly dawned on Oliver. "And now nobody's going to tug your arm or push you out of your corner." Barder continued. He took a seat at a table and gestured for Oliver to sit across from him.

"So," He said in a comfortable tone. "None of that fighting was any kind of Martial Art, it was all improvised."

Oliver straightened himself as Barder continued. "So you didn't learn that from any class, yes?"

Oliver nodded wearily.

"Fighting like that is learned naturally. And you were very good at it. Where were you born, Oliver?" Barder asked him.

"How did you know my name?" Oliver asked calmly, but gravely serious, and Barder chuckled.

"You've got a bright nametag on your nice suit," Barder said. "A suit that you got from working somewhere important."

Oliver was quiet. He had forgotten about the nametag, and how fancy his suit was. Barder leaned over the table, lowering his head so it was at an even height with Oliver's.

"I've seen that kind of unique nametag before," Barder said.

Oliver was quiet again. Of course, Barder knew! A man as powerful as he is in the criminal community of Boston would definitely have spent some time with SuperHumans.

"I've killed your kind before," Barder said in a reminiscing voice. "I find it offensive. People make their living in this criminal world and never hurt a soul. The only things they hurt are the huge corporations that try to run the city." As Barder talked, he slowly raised himself up to be sitting straight again, making their height difference apparent again.

Oliver stared at Barder. He had never even considered the fact that sometimes SuperHumans do meet their match, and Barder by the looks of it was exactly that. The thing that really shook Oliver to his core was the way he talked about it in a way suggesting it could be in plural.

"But," Barder said, softening his voice. "You left them and came here. You joined us."

"I don't intend to stay forever," Oliver interjected, and Barder nodded understandingly. "Yes, yes the life at the SuperHuman tower was nice and comfortable." He said. "You didn't have to think or ponder. You could be lazy. Mentally, of course."

Oliver wasn't offended. He knew Barder was looking for him to be.

"But you didn't do that." Barder continued. "You broke free. I respect you for that."

He leaned back in his chair, relaxing. "You may go."

Oliver sat up, wondering what to make of this situation. He's found a home, protectors, and people to trust. This might be Oliver's new home.

"Wait, wait," Barder said, stopping Oliver with a gentle arm grab. "How long have you been rogue?"

"A..." Oliver hesitated. "A day." He finished.

"Only a day." Barder thought for a moment. "Have you eaten, Oliver?"

"No," Oliver answered honestly.

"Come," Barder commanded and got up from his chair.

Oliver hesitated again. Barder started walking away when he turned around to look at Oliver, who hadn't moved.

"Listen." He said in his gravely low voice, now threatening. "When you're staying here, when I tell you to do something, you'd better do it."

Oliver shivered and followed Barder. Barder opened a door which led to a cooler, and in they stepped. He grabbed a preserved hamburger and handed it to Oliver, who unwrapped it viciously and bit into the burger.

"When you are under my care," Barder said to Oliver, who was eating. "You listen to me, you follow me, and you fight for the Machine. Understood?"

Oliver nodded his head as he ate the hamburger.

'"Good." Barder said. "You may go."

Oliver exited the cooler, with Barder right behind him. Barder watched as Oliver casually walked away, then went back into hibernation in his little, dark, comfortable corner. Barder closed the door and leaned against the wall, watching over his empire. _I believe they are ready. We have fighters here, and I've secured Oliver. Now, all we must do is wait. I hope everybody knows and is prepared. The SuperHumans should be arriving any day now._


	16. Chapter 15- Conquer

**When naming Oliver, I simply looked up the most popular first names and surnames in the English language. When combined, it made Oliver Brown. Oliver Brown, coincidentally, is also the name of a key player in the Civil Rights Movement. He filed a lawsuit against the school district that his daughter went to, claiming that the segregated schools were unequal. His actions eventually helped lead to the "separate but equal" laws being declared unconstitutional. A real hero.**

Wolf was helpless. Completely and utterly helpless. He watched, sitting in the back of the main room, as Moonfall and his followers celebrated alongside old friends. Sedge and Moonfall sat together, talking, smiling. Moonfall momentarily gazed at Wolf, and his smile widened. It made Wolf sick to his stomach.

 _I wish I could tell Sedge. I wish I could tell him how horrible Moonfall is. But I can't. I can't in a way he'll believe me. I can't without admitting I was involved in the murder of Johnathan Craney._

 _That's selfish, isn't it? Putting myself above the good of Basilisk?_

 _But couldn't Moonfall just magic me away anyway? Could he enchant me to stop telling Sedge? Could he enchant the memory away? What exactly are the limits of his powers?_

Wolf decided that was a fine place to start. He could make Sedge ask him what Moonfall's power limits are. Wolf walked up to Sedge when Moonfall got up to introduce himself to Basilisk members.

"Hey, Sedge?" Wolf asked.

"Yeah, kid?" Sedge asked.

"Do you know the limits of Moonfall's powers?" Wolf questioned.

"No, that's a good question. You should ask him." Sedge said, considering this.

"Um, could you, actually, please?" Wolf asked. Sedge looked at him oddly.

"Well, he's very busy," Wolf explained. "I don't want to interrupt. Plus, you guys were talking, so…"

"Yeah, Wolf I can ask." Sedge said kindly. "And Wolf, don't be intimidated by him. He's a nice guy."

"Yeah…" Wolf backed off. _Does he think I'm scared of Moonfall? Well, I guess he's not too far off._

Wolf ducked into the crowd of partyers but stayed within earshot. He listened closely, as Moonfall returned to Sedge, drink in hand.

"So, Moonfall," Sedge asked him. "What exactly are your powers?" Moonfall gave Sedge a quizzical look, then smiled. Wolf could feel him looking down on him.

"Well, all NightWings born under the moon have the power to read minds and foresee the future," Moonfall explained.

"So are you reading my mind right now?" Sedge asked, shifting in his seat.

"I am now, I just started," Moonfall admitted. "And now, I stopped. With enough practice, you can choose whether or not to read a certain person's mind."

"Really?" Sedge asked. "And what about the future sight?"

"The visions come randomly," Moonfall explained. "Often in dreams, but important ones will show up while I'm awake, and those ones hurt."

"They hurt?" Sedge asked.

"Yes, and they can cripple me for the length of them," Moonfall said. "Some used to say NightWings could make prophecies, like in Greek myth."

"Wow." Sedge said, obviously extremely impressed. He completely believed the dragon.

"I still haven't figured out how to enchant away the pain of the visions," Moonfall said whimsically. "It's mysterious."

"Enchant away?" Sedge said.

"Right right," Moonfall said, putting down his drink. "I also have Animus magic. It means I can enchant something to do my bidding."

Sedge's eyes widened.

"That's how I perfected the stopping of the rally," Moonfall said.

"Yeah." Sedge said, amazed. "It went flawlessly."

"Only the best for my Basilisk friends," Moonfall said, raising his drink to give cheers with Sedge's. "So, normally Animus magic would take a toll on the user, so I just enchanted myself to take the toll away. I enchanted away any side-effects to my powers, but no matter what I do, I can't take away the pain of a vision."

"So, you're basically invincible." Sedge confirmed.

"Yes." Moonfall agreed. "I've enchanted myself so I'm impervious to stabs, bullets, fire, extreme cold, hunger, and even aging."

Wolf shook. _He's unbeatable._

"How old are you?" Sedge asked.

Moonfall sat back and thought for a moment. "53." He finished.

"And you don't look a day over 20." Sedge said.

"Precisely," Moonfall said. "Keeping myself at maximum performance."

"So you can do anything?" Sedge asked after a pause.

"Animus magic lets me do basically anything, except for…" Moonfall paused, a blankness forming in his eyes. "Except for raise the dead." He finished.

"Can't you enchant away that limit too?" Sedge asked.

"Yeah…" Moonfall mumbled. "I guess I should try that sometime."

Sedge looked at Moonfall oddly.

"Well, I should get back to work," Moonfall said. "I have planning to do." He got up walked over to a wall, waving his talons at it. A door appeared there. Moonfall opened it, and stepped into a cluttered office, then closed the door with force, without slamming it, however.

 _That was weird, and not just the office… creation. Why did he act that way about the limit to his magic?_

Wolf approached Sedge.

"That was strange," Wolf said.

"Well hey," Sedge replied. "The guy's been around. I'm sure he has his reasons."

"I don't trust him," Wolf said truthfully. Sedge turned his head to look at Wolf fully. His look wasn't of anger or frustration, but it wasn't of understanding or respect either. It was disgust, which to Wolf was even worse than being any amount of anger. The look Sedge gave him made Wolf feel like his soul collapsed out of his body.

"And why would that be?" Sedge asked with a hint of his distaste creeping into his words.

"I don't know…" Wolf choked out. "I'm sure I'll get used to him."

Sedge turned his head back to the party before him. "You'd better." He said quieter. Wolf shook, and slowly stepped away from Sedge and into his room. He curled up on his new, soft and fluffy mattress, and held his head in his hands.

 _I can't spread or even express my distrust to Moonfall without Sledge being severely unhappy with me. But I can't say lie and say I trust him either, because then Moonfall wins. I have no more options. Even Sedge can't help me._

Wolf sat up. _Okay, I need to think about this. I know Moonfall likes killing humans, innocent ones, and now he has a whole group of followers. He will easily be able to trick them and turn Basilisk into a group that kills humans. He might even be able to do it with everyone on board._

That last thought made Wolf hold back tears, as his throat closed.

 _I have to wait and see. Sedge is strong mentally as well as physically. I'm sure he'll be able to resist Moonfall if he tries to push any extreme agendas._

Wolf gasped. _Unless he enchants Sedge. Can he do that? Probably. If he can, why hasn't he already?_ Wolf's eyes widened even more. _How do I know he already hasn't? How do I know that was really_ my _Sedge I was talking to back there?_

Wolf started shaking, and he lay down on his bed, pulling his lavish, new blankets over him. A long, sleepless night awaited him.


	17. Chapter 16- Tracks

Oliver woke up to Dirt sitting nearby him, sharpening a knife.

"You up?" He asked in his deep voice.

"Yeah," Oliver responded, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

Dirt flicked the switch on the knife back and forth, extending and retracting the blade back and forth. When the MudWing was pleased with it, he put it away into a satchel.

"You put up a hell of a fight." Dirt said. "Those weren't just any old moves you pulled there."

"Yeah, I… have a lot of practice," Oliver told him.

"Where'd you learn?" Dirt asked.

"Self-taught." Oliver half-lied.

"Then you're a damn good learner." Dirt said, standing up. "Go get some breakfast and get ready for the day." Oliver stood up and dusted himself off, straightening his tie. Oliver had ripped off his nametag for fear of any other Machine members recognizing it. Dirt glanced at the slightly ripped and rustled fabric where the nametag had been. His gaze tightened, and he turned and walked away. Oliver noticed Dirt had a pistol holster that hadn't been there before. He didn't think much of it. Oliver followed Dirt toward a large grouping of people, picking up sandwiches that were being handed out by Barder. Oliver picked up his and found a nice place in the back of the crowd to eat his breakfast. While chewing, Oliver looked around and noticed something strange. Dirt had said something quietly to Barder, which caused a nearby gang member to glance at Oliver for a moment. Oliver then also noticed every gang member Oliver could see around was armed. Knives, guns, batons, brass knuckles, everything. While Oliver was focusing the fact that every person was armed, Axel Gordon sat down next to Oliver.

"Do you have any weapons?" Axel asked in a friendly, 'just curious' manner.

"Yeah, two pistols," Oliver said truthfully.  
"You got ammo and everything?" Axel questioned.

"Some," Oliver replied.

Axel handed him three cartridges.

"So, Oliver." He said in between bites. "What's your story?"

"I was an orphan. No family at all. I had nobody." Oliver said, which was true. He didn't really have anyone.

"Any friends? An old gang?" Axel asked.

"I had a friend once," Oliver said. "But she moved up in the world. She got a nice new job, and left me and this life behind."

Axel furrowed his brow. "That's a shame. So, lemme guess, you were out on the streets when one of Barder's guys found you?"

"Yep," Oliver said, finishing his sandwich. He stood up, hastily trying to retreat from the awkward and nerve-wracking situation. Oliver had been prepared to lie to protect his identity if need be, but this still made Oliver uneasy. He was walking by the armed crowd when he noticed something else strange. Multiple people seemed… anxious. One man, who was armed, wasn't eating and had sweat beading down his forehead.

 _They're… preparing for something. But what?_ Oliver saw Axel stand up and walk over to Barder. He too said something quietly to him, and the same nearby gang member glanced at Oliver, this time joined by two more quick glances. _Something's wrong here. What's happening? Why does everyone who talks about me whisper about me?_

Realization struck Oliver. _They keep asking about my past. Barder wants me to give up the information that I'm a SuperHuman. People I recognize are asking me about it, then report their findings back to him._ Oliver stormed over to Barder. _It won't work anymore, because now I know that everyone knows. He won't get me to admit anything!_ Barder watched Oliver march over to him with full confidence.

"I know what you-" Oliver started.

"I'm aware." Barder cut Oliver off. "I saw the look of realization cross your face."

Oliver was quiet. "But why?"  
"You're special, Oliver. You're one of the first and only SuperHumans to escape the Tower, and you're the first to be smart, and most important of all, lucky."

"How s-" Oliver began, but Barder cut him off again.

"I want you to be proud of who you are and your abilities. Also, once people know the Machine has a SuperHuman with it, they won't mess with us as much."

"So you're using my status?" Oliver asked, offended.  
"It won't matter if you stay with us or leave, nobody would dare to test the waters. If you leave, it'll take at least a year to figure out you're gone."

"Then why shouldn't I leave?!" Oliver growled at Barder, who stood up from his seat. The huge man stood above Oliver. He had a large black scarf on, covering his mouth, which was about level to the top of Oliver's head. He wore a large navy blue coat, and he had gloves with brass knuckles embedded into them.  
"You should stay, because as I said…" Barder said in his deep, threatening voice. "You're lucky to have the privilege to."

A SuperHuman was intimidated by a regular human. _And I have every right to be. This guy's killed SuperHumans before. It's people like this that make Ms. Mikaela and Mason try to keep SuperHumans secluded. To keep us superior, and unable to be influenced._

Oliver sat down, and Barder looked down on him for a moment, before sitting back down himself.

"Why am I so lucky to stay here? What do you have that other places, like homeless shelters, don't? " Oliver asked. "The SuperHumans aren't right on my tail anymore. With a changed look I could probably stay safe."

"What do we have that they don't?" Barder repeated in his more friendly voice. He put his large gloved hand on the table, curled into a fist. "The ability to fight back."

"But I won't need that if they can't find me." Oliver tried to explain.

Before Barder could respond, a huge explosion rattled the shelter. It surprised Oliver enough to knock him out of his seat and onto the floor. His ears ringing, with dust clouding his vision, Oliver looked up to see that main and only door to the shelter was blown open. All the Machine members took out their weapons and prepared to fight whatever came through the door. Barder stepped up onto a table in the center of the shelter. He opened his arms out.

"You like what you see?" He called into the darkness as the dust cleared around it. Oliver took both of his pistols out and stood up again.

Mason Owen stepped out of the door, both guns in hand. He was nodding his head subtly. "I do." He said honestly. "I wasn't expecting to find the legendary Barder Ramsey and his Machine. Looks like this is a 2 for 1 deal." Oliver looked around at the other Machine members. Some were ready. Some were raring to go. Some were anxious, or scared. But Barder's eyes showed nothing but excitement.

"We can make a deal, Barder." He said. "Just hand over Oliver, and I'm sure around the police we can pretend like we don't know where some of their most wanted criminals have disappeared to."

Barder chuckled quietly. "You would like that, wouldn't you?!" Barder called. "Sadly, I cannot grant you that joy today."

Mason's eyes narrowed. "You would rather endanger the lives of all of your members, rather than give up one? You're making a mistake."

"I could say the same for you," Barder said.

"We don't have to kill anyone," Mason promised.

Barder stepped down from the table and kept his hands on the cuffs of his jacket. "Neither do we." He responded, in his terrifying voice. He walked right up close to Mason, so that everyone could see just how much size difference there was between them. "Now," Barder commanded. "If you reach for one of your guns, I will break your arms." He said. "If you move your legs any direction other than away from me, I will break them, too." Barder lowered his voice. "If you say another word to me, I will break your neck."

Oliver was staring right at Mason, and he detected an emotion he knew Mason had never felt before. It was fear. Mason slowly stepped back, his eyes still trained on Barder. The utter and complete emptiness of the room around them made it feel like Barder dominated all of the space. Oliver was witnessing Mason lose a fight before he could as much as tap the enemy. Mason turned around and began to walk away from Barder.

Before he could begin his second step, however, he twisted around and punched Barder in the face. The large man stepped back and readjusted himself. "Wait." He commanded the other members of the Machine.

"Yeah, hold on," Mason said, turning back toward the open door, into the darkness.

 _Of course, he didn't come alone._

Before Mason could turn back to Barder, the large man punched Mason in the jawbone. Mason caught his fall, and tumbled backward, dodging the second strike from Barder. The two men faced each other. An all-out brawl was about to begin.

Barder looked at Mason, who had positioned himself to move around as quickly as possible while still being able to throw strikes. It was a common SuperHuman strategy to go for the sides of a target whilst moving around them, disorienting them and hitting the target through any blocks or defensive positions. _He's underestimating me._ Barder thought to himself. _A common sign of weakness. Assuming you are above an opponent you have no knowledge of._ Barder walked up to Mason, who was ready to move to his sides in a moment's notice. Barder feigned a punch to Mason's gut, and the scrawny man slid to Barder's right and tried to knock out Barder's legs from underneath him, but Barder was ready. he used his right arm to catch Mason right in the neck. He lifted him up off the floor and Mason almost swung a kick at Barder to free himself, but before he could, Barder swung him down headfirst with a roar. The man hit the ground with a slam. Barder let go and took a second to look at the glorious chief of the SuperHumans of Boston, lying on the floor, with the wind and utter life knocked out of him. Before Mason could stand back up, Barder slammed him in the chest with his fist, using his brass-knuckled-glove. Mason let out a moan of agony. Barder stared down at him pitifully.

 _This is their best shot they've got? This is the best SuperHuman in the business?_

Barder grabbed Mason by the throat and dragged him over towards Oliver. The young man sat there, his face slightly pale, and he stared up at Barder. Barder sat down back at the table, Oliver looking at Mason's damaged body with wide eyes. Barder reached over the table toward Oliver's hand, which was gripping a pistol. He squeezed it, and easily brought his hand over toward Mason's head, the barrel right against the Chief's forehead. Oliver did not resist Barder's control over him.

"It is your choice," Barder said to Oliver. "Kill Mason, and establish your differences as a separate entity from the SuperHumans. Spare him, and he lives to fight you and find you another day, but without blood on your hands."

Oliver didn't shake or tremble, but his eyes said it all. He couldn't handle this decision right now.

"I know what this man once meant to you," Barder said, loosening his grip by a margin. "If you can't do it, then I understand. We all do." Barder lightly gestured to the staring Machine.

"But if you believe killing Mason is the right thing to do, then you'd better do it," Barder said to Oliver. "You don't have much time before the SuperHumans attack."

Oliver furrowed his brow, a small drop of sweat forming. _He is not ready. Not yet. He won't do it._

"If you kill Mason, the SuperHumans will fight without a leader. If you do not, they'll have to recover Mason and keep him alive and safe. Either way, they've already got a great disadvantage. Kill him or not, do whatever you want."

 _He won't do it._

Oliver's eyes saw both sympathy and anger. He hated Mason, and yet, he also could not kill him. _A controlled hand is the strongest. I'm proud of him._ Sure enough, Oliver tugged his hand away from Barder, and he slowly brought his gun back to his side. Barder made sure not to show any emotion to this. _He's easily swayable. If I make him think in the very slightest he's made the wrong decision, then he'll regret what he's done._

Barder turned toward the destroyed door, Oliver looking determined and ready.

Oliver watched as a few SuperHumans leaped down from the door, and took out their guns, ready to make their way to Mason and get out. Barder clutched the top of his metal folding chair tightly, and Oliver readied his guns. Oliver moved to the left as Barder chucked the chair at an oncoming SuperHuman, who strafed away and right into the range of another Machine member, who tripped him and held a gun to his face. Oliver turned away as the criminal executed the SuperHuman, and at that very moment, hell's gates opened upon them.

Oliver watched in semi-horror, semi-focus as SuperHumans and Barder Ramsey tore through the crowd of fighting people. Oliver was twisting around, avoiding gunshots, and fighting SuperHumans for times he could. He was pushed, shoved, moved and thrown around the chaos. While all of this was happening, a million questions formed in his head. _Why did Barder leave it up to me to decide Mason's fate? How did Barder know the SuperHumans would show up? How did the SuperHumans know where I was? Why did they bring so many? How on earth did Barder beat Mason?_ As Oliver was slowly removed from the fight, he watched as Barder was slowly overwhelmed. A SuperHuman was at his feet and another was on the ground nearby. Oliver was unable to tell if they were alive or dead. Two other SuperHumans, who had fought their way through the massive melee, had reached Barder, and each had a taser out. With a roar of anger. Barder was able to punch one in the gut and kick him away, but he soon fell to his knees by the power of the electricity flowing through him. Barder was out of action, and so the remaining SuperHumans grabbed Mason and retreated out the broken door, leaving shambles behind. Victorious shambles.

 _-/-_

Oliver had been waiting to speak to Barder but had been getting stitched up, along with other wounded fighters. It was an unprecedented victory. The SuperHumans would not let this information go public, especially with their chief so badly injured by a regular human. Oliver had been completely quiet and inactive for the entire time he waited for Barder, and nobody blamed him. One Machine member had yelled at Oliver for not killing Mason, but Barder was able to scare him off from across the hideout while wearing a cast and getting stitched.

Finally, Barder called for Oliver.

"I'm guessing you want to have a conversation," Barder said to Oliver.

"Right," Oliver said, getting straight to the point. "How did you beat Mason? He's the best SuperHuman in the system right now."

Barder nodded. "I come from Romania," He began. "We had just got done a civil war when the dragons uprose. We were all but ready. Only the strong could survive, so I became strong. Eventually, Victevia was established next to us, so I had to leave because Romania surely would be taken."

 _Victevia._ "Where's that?" Oliver asked. Barder chuckled.

"They really like keeping secrets from you, hm?" He said. "The dragons were able to create a real base, one that couldn't be taken over. So when the humans came out on top, dragon revolutionaries went there to run away. Now, it's kept under tight rule by the United Nations, so that they'll never be able to rebuild their forces again."

"So, before they were put into check, you were worried Romania would be taken over?" Oliver asked to clarify.

"Many were. My mother one of them. We ran away and came here to America, where things were safe. We became illegal immigrants, so we decided to live a life of crime. If America did not want to supply things to us, then we would take it from them. My mother created the Machine to take in others in similar situations."

"Why the Machine?" Oliver asked, realizing he could be overstepping his bounds, but Barder answered without hesitation.

"We work like a machine." He said. "We do things with order, we get what we need to do done, and we take poor, needing people and turn them into fine men."

Oliver considered this. _What about me? Am I turning into a better person through the Machine, or is it making me less cultured and professional? It's definitely different, but I've never taken time to think about if this is good for me._ Instead of thinking too much about that, Oliver decided to keep talking. He would rather get more answers than questions.

"You knew the SuperHumans would come," Oliver said. Barder nodded. "How?"

"I knew another rogue SuperHuman once. The very first, I believe." Barder explained. "The Agency always knew where he was, no matter what. Eventually, we figured it out, but it was too late. We ran out of places to hide him, and he got taken away."

"So what was it?" Oliver asked anxiously. "How do they track us?"

"GPS," Barder said, tapping Oliver's left shoulder with his left hand, the one out of the cast. Oliver gasped. Barder gestured to the man who had stitched him up, and the gang member took out a surgical knife.

"Woah woah woah, I don't think I'm ready-" Oliver began, but Barder cut him off again.

"I do not care." He said simply, then with a crack on Oliver's head, everything went dark.

Oliver woke up with stitches on his left shoulder. He felt around it. The cut was small, and looking at a small table next to him, the GPS was small too.

Barder picked it up with his huge hand and set it into Oliver's. "I'll let you do the honors."

So much had happened so fast. He hated how Barder had knocked him out and surgically removed the GPS, but he didn't have the authority to question the man. There was nothing he could do. Oliver crushed the GPS in his hand with frustration. He had lived his whole life without any power over himself. It was time to make a difference.

"I'm gonna leave," Oliver said to Barder. The large man nodded quietly.

"I've put you all in danger. I can't stay." Oliver continued. Barder slowly looked at Oliver.

"Where will you go?" He asked in a voice Oliver had never heard before.

"I'm not sure." He said. "But I can't stay here. They'll come back and they might get me. I'm not safe here, you're not safe here as long as I stay."

"Then go," Barder said.

Without another word, Oliver got up from the bed and started toward the door. Barder didn't watch him go, but right before he left, he called to Oliver. "I have the feeling we'll cross paths again."

Oliver walked through the blown open door of the Machine.


End file.
